Revolt of the Rich

David N. Gibbs explores the forces that shaped the turn toward free market economics and wealth concentration and finds their roots in the 1970s. He argues that the political transformations of this period resulted from a “revolt of the rich,” whose defense of their class interests came at the expense of the American public.

David N. Gibbs is professor of history at the University of Arizona, with a courtesy appointment in Africana studies. His books include First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (2009).

Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America:
How did America become a land of grotesque excessive wealth for a few and widespread want and insecurity for so many? The Revolt of the Rich shows how much forethought and strategic maneuvering it took from the combined forces of the pro-corporate right, not least its many subsidized scholars and operatives. Yet historian David Gibbs also points to the presidency of Jimmy Carter as a pivot point in their success—and to the failure of progressives to engage in intentional joint work for the better future too many of us took for granted for too long... A wonderful and well executed book.

Catherine Liu, University of California, Irvine:
David Gibbs has written a jargon free, carefully researched account of how conservative, right wing free market fundamentalism triumphed in both government policy making and in economic theory. His account of the demise of the class compromise and the rise of corporate backed political thought shows that the ideology of free markets did not win a neutral war of ideas. Its victory was a carefully orchestrated movement involving the coordination of politicians, businessmen, captains of industry and anti-Communist academics.

Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
An original and compelling analysis of the “revolt of the rich,” the carefully planned business-ideological offensive of the 1970s that reversed the New Deal programs that benefited the population and laid the basis for the neoliberal era of extreme wealth concentration along with stagnation and precarity for the large majority. A study that provides valuable insights about the recent past and critical lessons for today.