Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

He really is that stupid.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The willow is too close to the house.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

You are here: Home / Books / Chris Hayes Has A Book to Sell Give Away!

Chris Hayes Has A Book to Sell Give Away!

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chris hayes twilight paperback

Chris Hayes’ book Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy has just been released in paperback. Thanks to Crown Publishing’s generosity, I have a signed copy waiting for a lucky Balloon Juice reader.

Per David Daley at Salon:

“Twilight of the Elites” is a story about inequality and myths: the myth of the meritocracy and the reality of the very uneven society that allows those, in the words of Ann Richards, who were born on third base to end up thinking they hit a triple — and then find themselves protected when they screw up.

As Hayes writes:

“Along with all the other rising inequalities we’ve become so familiar with — in income, in wealth, in access to politicians — we confront now a fundamental inequality of accountability. We can have a just society whose guiding ethos is accountability and punishment, where both black kids dealing weed in Harlem and investment bankers peddling fraudulent securities on Wall Street are forced to pay for their crimes, or we can have a just society whose guiding ethos is forgiveness and second chances, one in which both Wall Street banks and foreclosed households are bailed out, in which both insider traders and street felons are allowed to rejoin polite society with the full privileges of citizenship intact. But we cannot have a just society that applies the principle of accountability to the powerless and the principle of forgiveness to the powerful. This is the America in which we currently reside.”

The anchor of MSNBC’s “All In” every weeknight at 8 p.m. Eastern, Hayes has quickly become one of the country’s most essential public intellectuals….

Since it worked so well for our last giveway, I’m going to use the same system. WordPress willing, I’ll put up a post this evening, titled “CONTEST: Twilight of the Elites Giveaway“. Everybody who’s interested gets one entry, one comment. (Duplicate comments will get you eliminated.) The contest will stay open until Tuesday evening, so everyone should have a chance to enter. Then I’ll use a random number generator (www.random.org) to pick the number of the winning comment.

Questions, suggestions, complaints — this would be the place to speak up.

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  5. 5.

    Loneoak

    I don’t believe in randomness, all things happen for a purpose. Such as me getting a free copy of the polinerdgod’s book.

  6. 6.

    Jockey Full of Malbec

    He reads the audiobook himself, it was a good drive-time “read” (listen?).

    In general a very good book. My only real complaint is that he totally ignores the STEM sector’s role as an almost parallel elite ladder… but IMO that’s not an uncommon blind spot for Harvard grads.

    (No offense meant to any actual Harvard grads who might be reading, but I’ve observed this as a generality)

  7. 7.

    Americanadian

    Hopefully this will lurk me into a free copy of a book I keep meaning to read, but never quite get around to it.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    Valdivia (and any others — come on down):

    You up for 7 p movie, Copperhead, at West End Cinema in DC? Director to do Q&A following.

    Civil War movie; director did Gods and Generals and other CW themed stuff earlier. (I’ve never seen any of them …)

  11. 11.

    Warren Terra

    Various commenters seem to think this thread, not this evening’s thread, is where they should enter the contest.

  12. 12.

    Comrade Mary

    Is this one of those contests that excludes damn furriners? Because damn it, I’m furrin.

  15. 15.

    quannlace

    What always floors me, when they let it slip like Romney’s taped 47% comments, is the sheer contempt the 1 percenter’s have for anyone outside of their incredibly priviliged bubble. It’s as if we don’t deserve to share the same air as them.

  17. 17.

    Schlemizel

    Given that I have not one a single thing in any way shape or form since I hit the lucky number on a cakewalk at age 4 (which my mom believes was rigged anyway) I want to complain loudly right now about not winning this book!

  20. 20.

    gussie

    It seems like an awful waste of a lot of comments. The book should go to whomever does the best mashup of Twilight and Wall Street.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    Maybe the book should go to the Balloon Juice reader who named JCole’s cat.

    Oh, wait …

  24. 24.

    Chris

    @quannlace:

    Yeah, it took me quite some time to realize how deeply ingrained and how violent that prejudice is in American culture. And not just among the 1%. Plenty of people really, really, really hate the poor with a passion that rivals racism or homophobia.

  25. 25.

    c u n d gulag

    No complaints.

    I’ll take my chances.

    I never win anything anyway, so I know what my chances are.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    There’s something wonderful about discussing “Twilight of the Elites” and there’s a thread about the Royal Boy above.

  27. 27.

    gelfling545

    By commenting I am improving someone else’s chance to win as I never win anything I enter anywhere which thereby promotes someone else. Very altruistic of me, if somewhat weak on the statistical side.

  30. 30.

    Chris

    @Elizabelle:

    Eh, much as I don’t give a shit about British royalty, I tend to put them in the same category as Hollywood stars. Yes, it’s obnoxious how much attention they get, yes, some of them are complete shitbags, but overall, they’re pretty harmless. At least they’re not starting wars or crashing economies like some of Britain and America’s other elites specialize in doing.

  33. 33.

    danielx

    Read the book about six months ago…I won’t say it changed my life, but it does make a lot of things fall into place. Virtually every major institution in the country – corporations, banks, Congress, the Catholic church, major league baseball, you name it – has fucked up by the numbers at some point in the last few decades, in some cases repeatedly. (Bankers: “We promise we won’t do it again! Really! You can trust us!”)

    The one common thread among all these institutions is that no matter how badly they screw the pooch, there are never any consequences for those at the very top. A few underlings at the bottom, maybe, as in the robosigning foreclosure business, but nothing for institutions or the guys at the top except maybe a fine which has no impact whatever on their lifestyle or well-being. *cough*Angelo Mozilo, HSBC, Goldman Sachs…*cough*
    If you’re up high enough – one of the elites to which Hayes refers – nothing will happen to you for anything short of serial murder.

    In the meantime, lots of people* are doing hard time for minor offenses under what has turned into the most draconic criminal code in the world. Equal justice under the law, my ass.

    *And losing their voting rights – it’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

  34. 34.

    maya

    Hey! We now should have a contest on naming the new heir apparent.
    Winser is my pick.

  36. 36.

    Ecks

    I never win anything where there’s just one prize. It’s a law of nature. This will be just more empirical proof. Commenty commenty blarg.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @maya:

    I wonder what Johnny Mathis’ chances are?

    What, of winning the Chris Hayes book, or of having the royal baby named after him?

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    Valdivia:

    I confess that suburban inertia is preventing me from trekking downtown to see that Copperhead movie. The road to hell … good intentions … all that. Would love to hear the director’s take, but it’s hot and I am tired today.

    Sincere apologies if you have headed there.

  41. 41.

    Wrye

    As a Canadian, I will just point out that I don’t understand the American obsession with British Royalty. Wasn’t that the whole point of the revolution? Maybe this book will help me understand.

  44. 44.

    Xjmueller

    AL,
    A few years ago when you first posted on the front page I made a comment to the effect that you were more talented and smarter than the quality of your initial posts indicated. I think my opinion has been vindicated since then, but here’s your chance to seal the deal with me. Also too, faithfully lurking should be rewarded occasionally.

  49. 49.

    Paul in KY

    One of the biggest change in today’s society, vs 40 years ago is this absolving of elites when they lie, cheat, steal, etc. & then get caught.

    I think it is because the people who did the outing & reporting back then did not see themselves as part of this economic elite, but more like us regular shmoes.

    Now, they are all rich too & see the personal benefit to them & their families from playing along. The greatest strategic win by the 1 percenters was to cut the reporters in on the dough. To co-opt them, as it were.

    Or another way to say it would be to bribe them.

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