Winners Take All

The Elite Charade of Changing the World

By: Anand Giridharadas

Narrated by: Anand Giridharadas

Penguin presents the audiobook edition Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World written and read by Anand Giridharadas.

*The New York Times bestseller*

'Entertaining and gripping . . . For those at the helm, the philanthropic plutocrats and aspiring "change agents" who believe they are helping but are actually making things worse, it's time for a reckoning with their role in this spiraling dilemma' Joseph Stiglitz, New York Times Book Review

What explains the spreading backlash against the global elite? In this revelatory investigation, Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, showing how the elite follow a 'win-win' logic, fighting for equality and justice any way they can - except ways that threaten their position at the top.

But why should our gravest problems be solved by consultancies, technology companies and corporate-sponsored charities instead of public institutions and elected officials? Why should we rely on scraps from the winners? Trenchant and gripping, this is an indispensable guide and call to action for elites and citizens alike.

©2019 Anand Giridharadas (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Entertaining and gripping.... For those at the helm, the philanthropic plutocrats and aspiring 'change agents' who believe they are helping but are actually making things worse, it's time for a reckoning with their role in this spiraling dilemma." (Joseph Stiglitz, New York Times Book Review)

very good, scary and depressing

this book really opened my eyes to the hypocrisy of the philanthropic rich. it is such a shame we can't focus on bettering our world civilisation instead of funneling progress and productivity you to the 1%. What are we doing that allows 8 people have the same wealth as the bottom 50% of the world.

Eye opening, startling...

can't believe what Anand managed to uncover and I also can't believe how little power the public domain has.

Repetitive and narrow minded

Some elements of his ideas are of course universal like equal opportunity for all and that billionaires are biased and live in a bubble. However claiming Trump is a racist or white supremacist as he is against illegal immigration is self indulgent adolescent narcissism. The author is as biased as a news anchor and the premise of the book is spread too thinly over too many chapters. I think billionaire philanthropy being an ironic contradiction in terms was probably already obvious to most people. Good to listen to if you want to hear what the 'woke' think, and increasing opportunities for middle and working class Americans is something I think most people agree on.

Starts strong and finishes in nothingness

The first 3-4 hours are great, interesting points are made and intriguing discussion occurs. But then the author ran out of point, and thus pursued illustrating the same issues over and over and not even in a way that frankly becomes more than a bit boring.

Fantastic topic, but structured badly. The first half is probably worth the price of admission, but after that play it by ear. Especially grating is the epilogue which loops back to something discussed much earlier which made me skip the last ten minutes entirely.

Still important and definitely worth a listen. Makes its point maybe too concisely and then tries to keep it going.