An inside look at the secretive world of elite philanthropists--and how they're quietly wielding ever more power to shape American life in ways both good and bad.
While media attention focuses on famous philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Charles Koch, thousands of donors are at work below the radar promoting a wide range of causes. David Callahan charts the rise of these new power players and the ways they are converting the fortunes of a second Gilded Age into influence. He shows how this elite works behind the scenes on education, the environment, science, LGBT rights, and many other issues--with deep impact on government policy. Above all, he shows that the influence of the Givers is only just beginning, as new waves of billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg turn to philanthropy. Based on extensive research and interviews with countless donors and policy experts, this is not a brief for or against the Givers, but a fascinating investigation of a power shift in American society that has implications for us all.
In this provocative audiobook author David Callahan examines the cheating epidemic-at work, in school, on the ballfield and everywhere else-that is the new American plague. Now more than ever, people are bending rules and breaking laws to get what they want. From the Enron scandal to the dot-com collapses to the plagiarism that has rocked the publishing world, this remarkable book exposes the new culture of cheating while offering reasonable suggestions for righting the wrongs.