Christopher Hayes is Editor at Large of"The Nation"and host of"Up w/ Chris Hayes"onMSNBC. From 2010 to 2011, he was a fellow at Harvard University sEdmond J Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in"The New York Times Magazine," "Time," "The American Prospect," "The New Republic," "The Washington Monthly," and"The Guardian. "Helives in Brooklyn with his wife Kate and daughter Ryan."
A "Foreign Policy" Favorite Read of 2012
A "Mother Jones" Staff Pick for Best Nonfiction of 2012
An Inc.com Top Five Business Book of 2012
A "Kirkus Reviews" Best Nonfiction Bookof 2012
Excellent "Rolling Stone
" Hayes, an editor-at-large of "The Nation" and host of the MSNBC
talk show "Up With Chris Hayes," has written a perceptive and
searching analysis of the problems of meritocracy. "Foreign
Affairs
" [A] stunning polemic .Hayes' book is the rare tome that
originates from a political home (the left) and yet actually
challenges assumptions that undergird the dominant logic in both
political parties. This is not mealy-mouthed centrism. It is a
substantive critique of the underlying logic of both Barack Obama
and Mitt Romney the logic of meritocracy. Ta-Nehisi Coates,
"Baltimore Sun
"
In a very good new book titled "Twilight of the Elites: America
After Meritocracy," Chris Hayes offers one of the most compelling
assessments of how soaring inequality is changing American society.
The Economist.com
Let's just say that if you like politics and big ideas, you want to
buy this book. It's a lot more intellectually ambitious than your
typical pundit book and offers a really great blend of writing
chops and social theory synthesis.
Matthew Yglesias, Slate.com
In his new book, "The Twilight of the Elites: America After
Meritocracy," Chris Hayes manages the impossible trifecta: the book
is compellingly readable, impossibly erudite, and most stunningly
of all correct. Aaron Swartz, Crookedtimber.org
Engrossing .thoughtful critiques of what's gone wrong with
America's ruling class. The Atlantic.com
I was myself very impressed by the level of execution in this
book.
Tyler Cowen, Marginalrevolution.com
Hayes s book makes for a great read ."Twilight" uses a wide variety
of academic and journalistic work, balancing a deep, systemic
critique of society with detailed and empathetic reporting about
those most affected by elite failure.
Mike Konczal, "Dissent
" "Twilight of the Elites" offers an elegant, original argument
that will make both cynics and idealists reconsider their views of
how, and whether, our society works. If Americans believe in
anything, it s our meritocracy. Hayes is brave to question it so
forcefully. "Commonweal
"
A potent articulation of a society s free-floating angst, "Twilight
of the Elites" stakes its claim as the jeremiad by which these days
will be remembered.
Washington Monthly.com
I read Chris Hayes' "Twilight of the Elites" last month and will
suggest that you read it too it's an engaging read that addresses
the question of whether a meritocratic elite can really stay
meritocratic over extended periods of time. Daniel W. Drezner,
Foreign Policy.com
This was a book I found so stimulating and immersive that I cannot
wait to be able to discuss it with a larger audience .Even if you
think you are aware of the depth of the rot plaguing the highest
levels of our society, you will likely earn a new level of outrage
by reading this book. Alexis Goldstein, Livetotry.com
Make[s] you think in new ways about why we tolerate such vast and
growing income inequality .an extended meditation on why the great
hope and change revolution of 2008 has so far left the inequitable
status quo a little bit too intact. Salon.com
"Twilight of the Elites"by Chris Hayes may change the way you look
at the world .[It] almost single-handily undermines virtually every
precept we ve come to accept about life in the modern age. It also
may well turn out to be the seminal treatise for the so-called FAIL
generation, a term that loosely connotes everyone who graduated
since the beginning of the 21st Century. Good Men Project.com
"Twilight of the Elites" is a engaging, insightful book. I finished
it in less than 24 hours, and I encourage you to pick up a copy.
Forbes.com
You should really get yourself a copy of "Twilight of the Elites
Daily Kos
"
A powerful critique of the meritocratic elite that has overseen one
of the most disastrous periods of recent history. "The American
Conservative"
In his new book, "Twilight of the Elites: America After
Meritocracy," Hayes raises demanding questions about a nation that
is both enamored with and troubled by its elites. "Reason"
[L]ively and well-informed .Offering feasible proposals for change,
this cogent social commentary urges us to reconstruct our
institutions so we can once again trust them. "Publishers Weekly"
(starred)
[A] forcefully written debut....A provocative discussion of the
deeper causes of our current discontent, written with verve and
meriting wide interest.
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred)
This is the Next Big Thing that we have been waiting for. "Twilight
of the Elites" is the fully reported, detailed, true story of a
21st century America beyond the reach of authority. It s new, and
true, and beautifully told -- Hayes is the young left s most
erudite and urgent interpreter. Brilliant book. Rachel Maddow, host
of "The Rachel Maddow Show" and author of "Drift"" "
Here is the story of the fail decade and how it made cynicism the
inescapable flavor of our times. Along the way Chris Hayes delivers
countless penetrating insights as well as passages of brilliant
observation. If you want to understand the world you're living in,
sooner or later you will have to read this book.
Thomas Frank, author of "Pity the Billionaire"
Chris Hayes is a brilliant chronicler of the central crisis of our
time the failure of America's elites. His humane, spirited
reporting and analysis capture what millions of Americans already
know in their gut the emperor has no clothes. Yet this is not a
book defined by despair or cynicism. Hayes seizes this moment of
crisis to offer important and unconventional ideas as to how to
reconstruct and reinvent our politics and society. "Twilight of the
Elites" is a must read book for those, across the political
spectrum, who believe there is still time to cure the structural
ills of our body politic. Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and
publisher, "The Nation"
In "Twilight of the Elites," Hayes shows us what links the bailout
of investment bankers but not mortgage holders, the useless public
conversation in the run-up to the Iraq war, and the Catholic
Church's harboring of child rapists: our core institutions are no
longer self-correcting, and have become committed to protection of
insiders at all costs. Read this and prepare to be enraged.
Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody" and "Cognitive
Surplus"
"A provocation; a challenge; and a major contribution to the great
debate over how the American dream can be restored." David Frum,
contributing editor, "DailyBeast/Newsweek"
Chris Hayes is a gift to this republic. The brilliance he shows us
each week on MSNBC has now been complemented by this extraordinary
book. Beautifully written, and powerfully argued, it will force you
to rethink everything you take for granted about merit. And it will
show us a way to a more perfect nation.
Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership,
Harvard Law School and author of "Republic, Lost"
Chris Hayes has given us the kind of book people don't write any
more: a sweeping work of social criticism like Rachel Carson's
"Silent Spring" and Michael Harrington's "The Other America" that
take the failings of an entire society as their subject. Those
books brought grand movements of reform in their wake. Would that
history repeats itself with "Twilight of the Elites" America
ignores this prophet at their gravest peril. Rick Perlstein, author
of "Nixonland "and "Before the Storm"
"
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