Advance praise for Fortunes of Change
“Reading Fortunes of Change is like finding the missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle. Sweeping economic changes are profoundly reshaping our politics—and not in ways we usually think. These shifts are reshaping the beliefs of the upper class and creating a new and very potent political force—the liberal wealth elite. Callahan’s must-read book provides a whole new perspective on our economy and political culture.”—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class
“David Callahan delivers an eye-opening and deeply informed examination of a trend he spotted first: how the rise of wealth based on intellectual firepower is challenging the narrow-minded antagonisms fostered by the old economy’s industrial oligarchs and creating a broader, richer democracy. Fortunes of Change breaks new ground and should be read by anyone who wants to understand America’s changing political landscape.”—David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch
“In losing support among the working class, but gaining new traction with the wealthy and well-educated, has American progressivism sold its soul? David Callahan’s study of the rise of the liberal rich is as thought-provoking as it is timely.”—Michael Lind, author of Up from Conservatism: Why the Right Is Wrong for America
“Fortunes of Change is delightfully written and engaging and makes a compelling case for the centrality of the liberal rich. They are a symptom of the big changes in the two parties, but they are more than a curiosity. By the end, you feel compelled to accept his challenge—how do we advance a progressive project for these times, including ameliorating inequality, when the liberal rich are so central to all we do?”—Stanley B. Greenberg, CEO, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, and author of Dispatches from the War Room
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
In 2004, Callahan dissected "the pervasive greed and corruption found in the 'winning class' of the Enron era," in The Cheating Culture; now he takes another look at the super rich and finds paradoxically that in recent years "liberalism has spread in the upper class," and Billionaire Democrats played a significant role in Obama's victory. He disputes the claim that wealthy backers have pushed the party to the center in opposite to the their middle class constituency, and presents evidence to the contrary. While the "reformist tradition of patrician public service" dates back to Theodore Roosevelt, Callahan worries about a liberal plutocracy, even a benign one; prioritizing environmental causes over pollution in poor communities, ignoring the ongoing problem of home foreclosures, and opposing any meaningful financial reform will endanger our political democracy, he argues. And even were this not the case, "the outsized influence of rich people over electoral outcomes... undermines the ideal of one person, on vote," making Callahan's top priority "major reforms in the area of campaign finance and elections." What could have been a basic polemic is a nuanced, counterintuitive examination that deserves serious consideration from all sides of the political spectrum.
