Evil Geniuses: How Recent History Has Unmade America

RichA: Well written, irrefutably argued

United States on Dec 23, 2023

Musicman: Superbly researched, written and incredibly informative - a must read!!!

Canada on Dec 10, 2023

O: libro molto interessante sulla psiche dell'America

Italy on Apr 18, 2023

Peter Meyer: Kurt Anderson has collected all those half heard sound bites and put them into understandable history to explain why the English speaking countries are all on a downward spiral. If only everyone would read this…

Australia on Jul 03, 2022

Mary: I'm so tired of the lies being told by the right. They manipulate people with their lies and are bold enough to flaunt what they do. It's such a critical time in the United States and the world. People need to come together and work in harmony for the betterment of all. We need the truth to get out there and Kurt Anderson does just that with this book. He explains a lot about the Capitalistic right and how they consistently manipulate those who are uneducated and or misinformed about what is truly going on in America. The truth will prevail but there will be many lost because of the lies perpetuated by the right media and politicians. Look at the covid situation. We have lost so many people because of the lies and greed that the right perpetuates through the media. I hope many will read this book and see the ugly truth about the capitalistic right. Its purpose is to protect the rich and they don't care who they hurt. They use religion and God to control the masses who are blinded by their lies and that is truly a sad time for mankind. The rich control this world through fear, lies and they use God's name to do it. It won't get better until people wake up to the truth. Money runs...

United States on Jan 22, 2022

Alberto: Genial lectura para comprender la trampa neocon conservadora entre las clases populares norteamericanas.

Spain on Mar 21, 2021

G. C. Carter: The book entitled: “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History” by Kurt Andersen is a must-read book for anyone interested in a theory supported by both opinion and evidence about four decades of orchestrated change in the U.S. society that have led to dramatic increases in wealth among the very wealthy while leaving much of the rest of the US population in a state of financial stagnation. By way of contrast, the author points out that the results in the US differ from results in the European Union (EU).
The author begins with the quotation: “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”—LOUIS BRANDEIS
While much of the book focuses on 1980-2020, the author states: “Evil Geniuses chronicles the quite deliberate reengineering of our economy and society since the 1960s by a highly rational confederacy of the rich, the right, and big business.” Andersen goes on to state: “It was the example of New York investment bankers, earning gigantic salaries for doing essentially nothing—knowing the right people, talking smoothly, showing up at closings—that encouraged...

United States on Jan 25, 2021

John A.: Without a doubt, and thanks largely to Roosevelt’s New Deal, America’s best era was the twenty years following the end of WW2, characterised by benign government, a vibrant economy and a generally kinder, more cohesive, society; most jobs tended to be well-paid and, typically, a single wage-earner per household would guarantee a more than acceptable standard of living. During this period, Americans, by and large, tended to trust their governments but this began to go awry, starting with the disastrous Vietnam War, the race riots (following the assassination of Martin Luther King) and, ultimately, the unmasking of the criminal Watergate conspiracy, leading to the resignation from office of President Richard Nixon. A group far less enamoured by the New Deal (and the Keynesian economics it embraced) were those on the Far-Right of US politics, namely the super-rich, big business and, naturally, Wall Street, all of whom were incandescent over the high marginal tax rates they were being asked to pay. During the 12 or so years culminating in Ronald Reagan’s 1980 election victory, an insidious campaign, mounted by these conservative elements and with cooperation from parts of the...

United Kingdom on Sep 16, 2020

Alice Friedemann: If you want to know all the economic and political history that got us to the right-wing extremist Republican party, there’s no more entertaining way to do so than Kurt Anderson’s latest book “Evil Geniuses”. And be sure to read his book “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History”. It is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

This book has insights into Trump & Health care I haven’t seen elsewhere, such as how Koch and other billionaires who originated the Tea Party used the same astroturf operations to create a fake movement of angry people who refused to wear masks, which turned into millions refusing to do so and countless thousands of extra deaths.

My personal take on this after reading the book is: Don’t billionaires have enough money? Can’t they just let folks keep safe until a vaccine is found, and help pay for their rent and wages out of their ill-gotten billions obtained by paying low wages in the first place, rather than sharing profits with their workers?

I was frustrated that such a great writer and book were marred by a lack of awareness of biophysical economics, ecology, or limits to growth. Andersen might...

United States on Sep 12, 2020