#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From political economist cabinet member beloved professor
media presence and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good a deeply felt
compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas
fell short in so many important ways and still has lots of work to do "Important and
galvanizing.” —Senator Bernie Sanders "Essential reading for understanding this moment in
American history.” —Molly Jong-Fast New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Your
Mother A thought-provoking principled clear-eyed chronicle of the culture politics and
economic choices that have landed us where we are today—with irresponsible economic bullies and
corporations with immense wealth and lobbying power on top demagogues on the rise and
increasing inequality fueling anger and hatred across the country. Nine months after World War
II Robert Reich was born into a united America with a bright future—which went unrealized for
so many as big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of
his height—4'11" as an adult—set him on a determined path to spend his life fighting American
bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the civil rights movement his
political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement working for Bobby Kennedy
and Senator Eugene McCarthy experiencing a country torn apart by the Vietnam War meeting
Hillary Rodham in college Bill Clinton at Oxford and Clarence Thomas at Yale Law. He details
his friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith during his time teaching at Harvard and subsequent
friendships with Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy and his efforts as labor secretary for Clinton
and economic advisor to Barack Obama. Ultimately Reich asks: What did his generation
accomplish? Did they make America better more inclusive more tolerant? Did they strengthen
democracy? Or did they come up short? Reich hardly abandons us to despair over a doomed
democracy. With characteristic spirit and humor he lays out how we can reclaim a sense of
community and a democratic capitalism based on the American ideals we still have the power to
salvage.
