Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

"Every thinking American must read" (The Washington Book Review) this startling and "insightful" (The New York Times) look at how concentrated financial power and consumerism has transformed American politics, and business.

Going back to our country's founding, Americans once had a coherent and clear understanding of political tyranny, one crafted by Thomas Jefferson and updated for the industrial age by Louis Brandeis. A concentration of power — whether by government or banks — was understood as autocratic and dangerous to individual liberty and democracy. In the 1930s, people observed that the Great Depression was caused by financial concentration in the hands of a few whose misuse of their power induced a financial collapse. They drew on this tradition to craft the New Deal.

In Goliath, Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time in eighty years, as the outcome of the 2016 election shook our faith in democratic institutions. It has brought to the fore dangerous forces that many modern Americans never even knew existed. Today's bitter recriminations and panic represent more than just fear of the future, they reflect a basic confusion about what is happening and the historical backstory that brought us to this moment.

The true effects of populism, a shrinking middle class, and concentrated financial wealth are only just beginning to manifest themselves under the current administrations. The lessons of Stoller's study will only grow more relevant as time passes. "An engaging call to arms," (Kirkus Reviews) Stoller illustrates here in rich detail how we arrived at this tenuous moment, and the steps we must take to create a new democracy.

"At a moment when Americans are once again questioning and pushing back against extreme concentrations of private power, Goliath illuminates a history that is critical for understanding how we got here." Lina Khan, author of "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox"

“If you are concerned about the enormous power politically unaccountable corporations wield in everyday life, this book will help explain how we got to the fix we are in — and what we can do about it.” Richard R. John, Columbia University and author of Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications

"Here is the secret history of economic democracy in America. 'Secret' because it’s a story that will trouble everyone: conservatives and liberals, Silicon Valley and Big Oil. But it’s also a story that gets at the heart of who we were and who we might be again." Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?

Matt Stoller is a Fellow at the Open Markets Institute. Previously, he was a Senior Policy Advisor and Budget Analyst to the Senate Budget Committee. He also worked in the US House of Representatives on financial services policy, including Dodd-Frank, the Federal Reserve, and the foreclosure crisis. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Vice, and Salon. He lives in Washington, DC. Goliath is his first book.