Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Doubleday Books (19 Jan. 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385535597
ISBN-13: 978-0385535595
Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 3.3 x 24.1 cm
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers?
The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system.
The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs--that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom--are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.
The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.
When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible "philanthropy."
These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the Citizens United decision--a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.
The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.
Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.
Dark Money is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.
我通常对那些动辄长篇大论、情节拖沓的悬疑小说持保留态度,但这本书在篇幅控制上做得非常出色。它像一根精心拉紧的弓弦,从头到尾都保持着极高的张力,但又绝不显得匆忙或敷衍。每一条线索的展开都显得水到渠成,没有为了制造悬念而硬生生插入的桥段。更令人赞叹的是,作者在处理高潮部分时,展现了非凡的控制力。当所有线索汇聚,真相大白的一刻,那种震撼感是多层次的,它不仅满足了对“谁是幕后黑手”的好奇心,更重要的是,它揭示了“为什么会这样”的深层逻辑,这才是真正高级的叙事。看完结局,我花了相当长的时间来整理思绪,因为作者并没有给你一个廉价的“大团圆”或“黑白分明”的交代。相反,它留下了一种更接近真实世界的复杂余味,让人在合上书本后,仍旧久久地思考着人性的边界和制度的漏洞。这种回味悠长的品质,让这本书超越了一般的娱乐作品范畴。
评分不得不提的是,这本书的语言风格非常独特,它融合了某种古典文学的严谨和现代惊悚小说的紧凑感。行文流畅却又不失力度,尤其是一些关键场景的描写,简直可以用“摄影机式”来形容——画面感极强,每一个动作、每一个眼神的交汇都被刻画得入木三分。我仿佛能听到空气中紧绷的弦音,闻到那种充满压力的气息。作者对于细节的把握,体现在对不同阶层人物语言习惯的精准模仿上,这使得角色的身份和背景几乎不言自明,极大地增强了故事的可信度。说实话,我不是那种会特意去记笔记的读者,但这本书里的一些关键转折点和精妙的比喻,至今还清晰地印在我的脑海里,时不时会跳出来提醒我某个情节的深意。这种文字构建的沉浸感,如同一个精心设置的迷宫,让你心甘情愿地迷失其中,享受被引导、被欺骗、最终豁然开朗的全过程。读完后,那种意犹未尽的感觉,促使我立刻回溯某些章节,去重新确认那些我当时可能忽略的关键线索。
评分初读这本书时,最大的感受就是作者对社会肌理的洞察力令人咋舌。它不仅仅是一个简单的故事,更像是一面高精度折射镜,映照出权力运作的某些不为人知的侧面。书中的人物塑造极其立体饱满,没有绝对的善与恶,每个人物都在灰色地带挣扎,他们的动机往往复杂交织,不是非黑即白就能概括的。我被那种无形的力量拉扯着,看着主角们如何在巨大的利益网络中艰难求生,如何做出那些关乎道德与生存的两难选择。那些看似不经意的对话,其实都暗藏玄机,细细品味之下,能发现其中蕴含的巨大信息量,这大概就是好小说和普通消遣读物的区别所在吧。每一次翻页,都伴随着内心OS:“原来事情还可以这样运作?”它挑战了我原有的认知框架,迫使我以一种更审慎、更具批判性的眼光去看待我们周围的许多现象。那种智力上的挑战感,远超出了纯粹的解谜乐趣,更多的是对现实世界复杂性的深刻反思。这种后劲十足的阅读体验,才是真正让人爱不释手的原因。
评分这本书的封面设计真是太抓人了,那种深沉的色调和若隐若现的字体,一下子就营造出一种神秘、紧张的氛围,让人忍不住想立刻翻开看看里面到底藏着什么样的秘密。我拿到手的时候,光是摩挲着封面上的纹理,就能感受到作者想要传达的那种深不可测的感觉。阅读过程中,你会发现叙事节奏把握得极其到位,时而如同平静的湖面下暗流涌动,让人屏息凝神;时而又如同突然爆发的洪水,将所有隐藏的线索和人物关系冲刷出来,让你应接不暇。作者在构建这个复杂的世界观时,展现出了惊人的细节把控能力,每一个场景的描绘,每一个配角的设定,似乎都带着某种未言明的目的,让人不断地在脑海中构建着各种假设和推测。我尤其欣赏作者处理信息流的方式,它不是一股脑地倾泻给你,而是像剥洋葱一样,一层层地揭开,让你在追寻真相的过程中,体验到的是一种智力上的角力与快感。这种层层递进的叙事结构,使得即使是中途停下来,也能迅速找回那种沉浸感,足见功力之深厚。整体而言,这本书在悬疑氛围的营造上达到了一个很高的水准,完全抓住了现代读者对“隐秘力量”的好奇心。
评分从技术层面分析,这本书在结构布局上绝对是教科书级别的范例。作者巧妙地运用了多重视角叙事,使得读者得以从不同的、常常是互相矛盾的立场去审视同一个事件。这种叙事手法的切换,不仅避免了故事的单调乏味,更关键的是,它成功地模仿了信息碎片化时代的真相探寻过程——你永远只能得到局部的、带有偏见的信息,需要自己去拼凑完整的图景。在阅读过程中,我感觉自己像一个被雇佣的侦探,手中的证据不断变化,需要时刻警惕那些被精心植入的误导信息。这种互动性极强的阅读体验,极大地增强了代入感。而且,作者对节奏的掌控,如同高明的指挥家,知道何时该加速,何时该放缓,让你的心跳和文字的流速保持同步。当我把这本书推荐给朋友时,我特意强调了这一点:它考验的不是你的记忆力,而是你的洞察力和逻辑推理能力,是一次酣畅淋漓的精神马拉松。
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