Author | Hedrick Smith |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Publisher | Random House |
Publication date
|
2012 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 557 pp |
ISBN | |
OCLC | 769990419 |
973.91 | |
LC Class | E839.5 .S59 2012 |
Who Stole the American Dream? is a non-fiction book by the American author and journalist Hedrick Smith published in 2012 by Random House.
It describes the consolidation of wealth in the United States, and the dismantling of the middle class. As a result, the American Dream—a national ethos, or a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work—is becoming increasingly unattainable.
Although Smith's distinguished journalistic career includes covering the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, and the civil rights movement, serving as the Moscow Bureau Chief for the New York Times, writing a #1 bestseller, and working on 26 prime-time specials for PBS, he views this book as "'absolutely' his most significant achievement."
A positive review in USA Today summarized the book as follows:
Smith shows how corporate chieftains in cahoots with their rather than their employees sold out those employees — sold them out with the blessing of U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, U.S. presidents, presidential appointees at executive branch agencies and a bare majority of U.S. Supreme Court Justices validating the decisions of mostly Republican-appointed lower court judges.