Synopsis "America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens (in English)"
Praise for AMERICA: WHAT WENT WRONG?: THE CRISIS DEEPENS“The 1992 edition of America: What Went Wrong? was one of the most important works of journalism in the 20th century. This updated edition is even more compelling, as it lays bare our nation’s shameful drift over the past three decades to an even more inequitable, unfair and unjust society. Barlett and Steele tell us not only what went wrong, but what’s still going wrong and how only we, the citizenry, can fix it. Let’s hope that this time around, the public and our elected representatives do a better job of listening and responding.” —DAVID BOARDMAN, Dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication, Temple University"The powerful new book, America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens, by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, is even more significant and relevant today than it was in 1992 when it was first published. The brilliant, two-time Pulitzer Prize winners have released a terrific, ‘that was then, this is now’ updated throughout edition of their muckraking classic about inequality in America. And it is an absolute MUST read!" —CHARLES LEWIS, Founder, The Center for Public Integrity“This brilliant book is essential reading for anyone seeking the true story of how America works—or doesn’t. Barlett and Steele—the preeminent investigative reporters of their generation—lay out in meticulous detail how special interests continue to loot the American middle class, with disastrous results. They use up-to-the-minute data and compelling human stories to show how the average American has ended up far worse off than even the authors could have predicted three decades years ago, when they first began their exploration of how special interests with deep pockets and friends in Washington fueled inequality in America. The book unfolds as a gripping economic detective story, an engrossing tale of real people beat by the system that will leave you angry and yearning for change.” —JOE STEPHENS, Founding Director of the Program in Journalism, Princeton University“The achievement of Barlett and Steele in America: What Went Wrong? can hardly be overstated. I know of no other investigative report that displays a comparable ambition—nothing less than to document the drivers and effects of class warfare (to call it out by name) in the United States. The breadth and depth of the research and the potent clarity of the writing, moving from rending individual stories to crystalline exposition of arcane tax laws, raise the benchmarks for journalism. In this update, Barlett and Steele demonstrate that the trends they mapped in the early ’90s have deepened, ruining the lives and futures of the American middle class. The book can be read as an indictment of financiers who looted the country and politicians who paved their path, but its ultimate target is a system, and systems can be changed, as the authors set out in their new epilogue. This book is not only unique, it’s a masterpiece.” —MARK LEE HUNTER, author, Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists“This important and timely update of a classic investigative work once again details the terrible—and increasing—inequities of the U.S. economic and legal system that bestows numerous favors on the rich while trampling the wages, benefits and hopes of middle-class citizens. America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens also serves as an exemplary textbook for aspiring young journalists who wish to expose the corrupt and abusive systems contributing to this ongoing crisis.” —BRANT HOUSTON, Professor and Knight Chair of Investigative Reporting, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"Reading this brilliant book on the long slow death of the American dream will give you strength to fight for its resurrection.” —TIM WEINER, Pulitzer Prize-winner author of Legacy of Ashes and The Folly and the Glory
