The divide

American injustice in the age of the wealth gap

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Matt Taibbi: The divide (2014)

416 pages

English language

Published Aug. 20, 2014

ISBN:
978-0-8129-9342-4
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OCLC Number:
852957163

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4 stars (8 reviews)

"Matt Taibbi's genius is in untangling complex stories and making us care about them by providing striking moral clarity and a genuine sense of outrage. He has become among the most read journalists in America, leading the dialogue with epic Rolling Stone pieces that offer an "almost startling reminder of the power of good writing" (Washington Post). In this new work, he once again takes readers into the biggest, most urgent story in America: a widening wealth gap that is not only reshaping our economic life, but changing our core sense of right and wrong. The wealthy 1% operate with near impunity, while everyone else finds their very existence the subject of massive law enforcement attention: from stop-and-frisk programs and the immigrant dragnet to invasive surveillance and the abuse of debtors. Driven by immersive reporting, this is a stunning look into the newest high-stakes divide in our country: between a …

2 editions

Review of 'The divide' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Bernie Sanders has said the business model of Wall Street is fraud but Matt Taibbi provides the details. We think we live in a world of laws but culture trumps (pun intended) law in that enforcement is controlled by cultural narratives. We've been told many stories about how US government works. And other stories about classless society and democracy but in the end, it's all just nice stories protecting us from an ugly reality. We don't want to know that reality--it's too scary and horrible so we listen to the nice fictions about the land of opportunity and how criminals get punished.

We may have learned from Mr. Taibbi's previous books that how laws get made isn't what we've learned in school. Now we see that how they're enforced is just as far from what we've been taught. The poor and darker skinned are set up to become convicts while …

Review of 'The divide' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is not likely to make your feel great about the current state of our society and system of justice. That said, it's a very nicely written and enjoyable book.

The author alternates between examples of how one end of the spectrum of society is punished relentlessly and systematically for trivial things simply because of who they are (or aren't) and the other is encouraged to do anything it pleases with no risk of punishment.

It's sobering to read. It's frequently angering and disheartening to read. But it's also well worth the time and shines light on situations that most of us know exist on some level. Situations that scream for – and deserve – more of our attention.

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Subjects

  • Rich people
  • Poor
  • Income distribution
  • SOCIAL SCIENCE / Poverty & Homelessness
  • Social justice
  • POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / National
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / General

Places

  • United States