Most Popular Books by Matt Taibbi

A REVELATORY AND DARKLY COMIC ADVENTURE THROUGH A NATION ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN—FROM THE HALLS OF CONGRESS TO THE BASES OF BAGHDAD TO THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES OF THE HEARTLAND Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi set out to describe the nature of George Bush’s America in the post-9/11 era and ended up vomiting demons in an evangelical church in Texas, riding the streets of Baghdad in an American convoy to nowhere, searching for phantom fighter jets in Congress, and falling into the rabbit hole of the 9/11 Truth Movement. Matt discovered in his travels across the country that the resilient blue state/red state narrative of American politics had become irrelevant. A large and growing chunk of the American population was so turned off—or radicalized—by electoral chicanery, a spineless news media, and the increasingly blatant lies from our leaders (“they hate us for our freedom”) that they abandoned the political mainstream altogether. They joined what he calls The Great Derangement. Taibbi tells the story of this new American madness by inserting himself into four defining American subcultures: The Military, where he finds himself mired in the grotesque black comedy of the American occupation of Iraq; The System, where he follows the money-slicked path of legislation in Congress; The Resistance, where he doubles as chief public antagonist and undercover member of the passionately bonkers 9/11 Truth Movement; and The Church, where he infiltrates a politically influential apocalyptic mega-ministry in Texas and enters the lives of its desperate congregants. Together these four interwoven adventures paint a portrait of a nation dangerously out of touch with reality and desperately searching for answers in all the wrong places. Funny, smart, and a little bit heartbreaking, The Great Derangement is an audaciously reported, sobering, and illuminating portrait of America at the end of the Bush era.

Part tirade, part confessional from the celebratedRolling Stone journalist,Hate Inc. reveals that what most people think of as "the news" is, in fact, a twisted wing of the entertainment business In this characteristically turbocharged new book, celebratedRolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi provides an insider''s guide to the variety of ways today''s mainstream media tells us lies. Part tirade, part confessional, it reveals that what most people think of as "the news" is, in fact, a twisted wing of the entertainment business. In the Internet age, the press have mastered the art of monetizing anger, paranoia, and distrust. Taibbi, who has spent much of his career covering elections in which this kind of manipulative activity is most egregious, provides a rich taxonomic survey of American political journalism''s dirty tricks. Heading into a 2020 election season that promises to be a Great Giza Pyramid Complex of invective and digital ugliness,Hate Inc. will be an invaluable antidote to the hidden poisons dished up by those we rely on to tell us what is happening in the world.

"Explores the roots and repercussions of the infamous killing of Eric Garner by the New York City police"--

An up-close look at the democratic race for the White House—it isn''t pretty Spanking the Donkey is a campaign diary like no other. Celebrated reporter Matt Taibbi turns a withering eye on the kissing contest of puffed-up martinets and egomaniacal fantasists more generally known as the 2004 Democratic primaries. Taibbi''s contempt for the whole charade, and for most of those involved (including a generous helping of his fellow journalists), makes for a searing and highly entertaining account. His refusal to take the proceedings seriously leads him to volunteer for Wesley Clark''s New Hampshire campaign in the guise of an adult-film director, while his take on a John Edwards press conference in New York City is filtered through the haze of hallucinogenic drugs. Taking up residence in slums and halfway houses as he follows the circus around the country, Taibbi juxtaposes an idiotic dog-and-pony show in which clashes of plainly identical candidates are presented as real controversies, with the quite separate concerns of the ordinary Americans whose lodgings he shares. The gap between the antiseptic exercise in faint patriotic optimism that is mainstream politics and the harsh realities of life for the millions of Americans that the electoral parade simply passes by has never been more sharply, or hilariously, sketched.

The "eXile" is the controversial tabloid founded by Ames and Taibbi that "Rolling Stone" has called "cruel, caustic, and funny" and "a must-read." In the tradition of gonzo journalists like Hunter S. Thompson, the authors cover everything from decadent club scenes to the nation''s collapsing political and economic systems--no one is spared. Illustrations.

Fueled by in-depth reporting, an investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author explores America''s widening wealth gap that is not only reshaping our economic life, but changing our core sense of right and wrong. 50,000 first printing.

The dramatic story behind the most audacious power grab in American historyThe global financial crisis isn''t past but prologue. The fall and rescue of Wall street was the coming-out party for the looters at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class-made up the largest players in finance and the politicians who do their bidding-has been growing in power for a generation, transferring wealth upward through complex financial and political manoeuvres. The crisis was on manifestation of how they''ve hijacked America''s political and economic life.Rolling Stone''s Matt Taibbi unravels the fiendish rise of the grifters. He traces the origins to the cult of Ayn Rand and her most influential-and possibly weirdest-acolyte, Alan Greenspan. He reveals backroom deals that decided the winners in the government bailouts; shows how finance dominates politics, from investment bankers auctioning off America''s infrastructure to the battle for healthcare reform; and tells the story of Goldman Sachs, a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity''.Taibbi combines deep sources, trailblazing reportage, and provocative analysis to create the most lucid, emotionally galvanising, and scathingly funny account yet of the American political and financial crisis. It is essential reading in order to understand the inner workings of politics and finance in America, and the profound consequences for us all.PRAISE FORMatt Taibbi''s coverage of the financial crisis''An almost startling reminder of the power of good writing.''- EZRA KLEIN, washingtonpost.com''Matt Taibbi [writes] in a no-holds-barred, often profane, but always informative and stimulating style that gets under the skin of the powerful.''- BILL MOYERS

One of the most important voices in contemporary American journalism - Independent Matt Taibbi is one of the few journalists in America who speaks truth to power- Bernie Sanders Matt Taibbi is the best polemic journalist in America- Felix Salmon NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "The thing is, when you actually think about it, it''s not funny. Given what''s at stake, it''s more like the opposite, like the first sign of the collapse of the United States as a global superpower. Twenty years from now, when we''re all living like prehistory hominids and hunting rats with sticks, we''ll probably look back at this moment as the beginning of the end." In this groundbreaking battery of dispatches from the heartland of America, Matt Taibbi tells the full story of the Trump phenomenon, from its tragi-comic beginnings to the apocalyptic election. Full of sharp, on-the-ground reporting and gallows humour, his incisive analysis goes beyond the bizarre and disturbing election to tell a wider story of the apparent collapse of American democracy. Taibbi saw the essential themes right from the start- the power of spectacle over truth; the end of a shared reality on the left and right; the nihilistic rebellion of the white working class; the death of the political establishment; and the emergence of a new, explicit form of white nationalism. From the thwarted Bernie Sanders insurgency to the aimless Hillary Clinton campaign, across the flailing media coverage and the trampled legacy of Obama, this is the story of ordinary voters forced to bear witness to the whole charade. At the centre of it all, "a bumbling train wreck of a candidate who belched and preened his way past a historically weak field" who, improbably, has taken control of the world''s most powerful nation. This is essential and hilarious reading that explores how the new America understands itself, and about the future of the world just beyond the horizon.

Smells Like Dead Elephants is a brilliant collection from Matt Taibbi, "a political reporter with the gonzo spirit that made Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O''Rourke so much fun" (The Washington Post). Bringing together Taibbi''s most incisive and hilarious work from his "Road Work" column in Rolling Stone, Smells Like Dead Elephants shines an unflinching spotlight on the corruption, dishonesty, and sheer laziness of our leaders. Taibbi has plenty to say about George W. Bush, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and all the rest, but he doesn''t just hit inside the Beltway. He gets involved in the action, infiltrating Senator Conrad Burns''s birthday party under disguise as a lobbyist for a fictional oil firm that wants to drill in the Grand Canyon. He floats into apocalyptic post-Katrina New Orleans in a dinghy with Sean Penn. He goes to Iraq as an embedded reporter, where he witnesses the mind-boggling dysfunction of our occupation and spends three nights in Abu Ghraib prison. And he reports from two of the most bizarre and telling trials in recent memory: California v. Michael Jackson and the evolution-vs.-intelligent-design trial in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Equally funny and shocking, this is excellent work from one of our most entertaining writers.

Durante las dos últimas décadas, en Estados Unidos se ha asistido a un curioso misterio estadístico: la pobreza aumenta, el crimen disminuye y la población reclusa se duplica. Sin embargo, no todo el mundo pasa por la cárcel. Gracias a un sistema judicial diseñado a la medida del nuevo culto a la riqueza y el poder, la gran mayoría de los delincuentes de cuello blanco han logrado eludir la cárcel desde que empezó la crisis financiera, mientras que pobres y miembros de minorías étnicas acaban en prisión de manera casi automática. La desigualdad de ingresos se traduce en desigualdad ante la justicia cuando analizamos quién es objeto de persecución penal y quién no. El fraude de las clases privilegiadas se lleva por delante el 40 por ciento de la riqueza mundial, pero nadie va a la cárcel; en los barrios pobres de las grandes ciudades, decenas de miles de personas son detenidas al cabo del año por el delito de estar en la calle. Esta brecha es la que permite el fraude masivo e impune. Taibbi propone un viaje por ambas caras del sistema de justicia: por un lado, casos como el sorprendente saqueo de Lehman Brothers que precedió al colapso financiero de 2008, o como la conspiración de un grupo de multimillonarios, gerentes de fondos de alto riesgo, para arruinar a una compañía rival. Por el otro, las redadas de inmigrantes promovidas por un sistema de bienestar que trata a sus beneficiarios como ladrones.

Ausgehend von der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise 2008 begibt sich Matt Taibbi, Redakteur des Magazins Rolling Stone , auf Spurensuche. Wie konnten die ungedeckten Immobilienkredite Amerikas die globale Wirtschaft an den Rand des Zusammenbruchs bringen? Wer sind die Gewinner, wer die Verlierer der modernen Finanzprodukte ? Was Taibbi bei seinen Recherchen und Interviews mit Hedgefond-Managern, Wallstreet- Bankern und Politikern herausfindet, hat wenig zu tun mit der offiziellen Version zum Beinahe-Kollaps unseres Finanzsystems. Egal, welche Partei vorn liegt, das reichste Prozent der Amerikaner rafft einen immer größeren Anteil des Volksvermögens an sich. In einer komplizierter werdenden Welt sehnen sich die Menschen nach einfachen Botschaften ( wir gegen die ), verkörpert in Gestalten wie Sarah Palin. Unterdessen inszenieren Finanzfachleute von Goldman Sachs & Co. milliardenschwere Betrugsmanöver auf Kosten vieler Bürger. Kleptopia ist ein Manifest gegen die Verdummungskampagne von Medien, Wirtschaft und Politik. Der zornige Matt Taibbi schenkt seinen Gegnern nichts. Mit hinreißendem rhetorischem Schwung analysiert er Phänomene wie die Tea-Party-Bewegung, die Hypothekenkrise und die Tricksereien des Finanzoligopols.

Considerado por buena parte de la crítica norteamericana (Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times...) uno de los mejores libros sobre las razones de la crisis financiera actual, Cleptopía es un preciso relato, lleno de humor negro y no poca mala leche, de los acontecimientos, y también de los nombres y apellidos, que llevaron a la caída y posterior salvamento público de la economía norteamericana. Desde la historia de ese «listillo» de Alan Greenspan hasta la estafa de Obama con la ley sanitaria, pasando por las subprime, la salvaje especulación en los mercados de alimentos y, claro, el mafioso comportamiento de la banca empezando por Goldman Sachs ... nadie ni nada queda al abrigo de la poderosa escritura de Matt Taibbi y del descarnado retrato que hace de la sala de máquinas del capitalismo financiero y de su domino sobre la política contemporánea. Si alguien quiere saber qué pasó y quién hizo que pasara en la última y todavía presente crisis económica, este es el libro... que se lee, además, como una buena novela.

Covers issues of California''s three strikes laws, as well as those set to reform the laws including Michael Romano and David Mills, founders of the Stanford Three Strikes project.