Description
Book SynopsisFrom the breweries of Colorado and the faculties of Harvard to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Marco D’Eramo guides us through the places where a new war has been thought out, planned and financed. It’s a real war, though it has been fought silently, without us realizing it. Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, said it best: ‘There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning’.
The revolt from above has affected all fields – not only the economy, but also justice and education. It has twisted our ideas of society, family and ourselves. It has taken advantage of every crisis, whether natural disasters, terrorist attacks, recessions or pandemics. It has used every weapon, from the information revolution to the technology of debt. It has changed the nature of power, from discipline to control. It has learnt from the workers’ struggle, using Gramsci and Lenin against them.
Maybe the time has come for us to do the same and to learn from our opponents.
Trade Review‘Before Masters, to speak of the ideological defeat of the left was taboo, a shameful story, and unspeakable. With the courage of truth, Marco d'Eramo spells out how it was the billionaires of the world, not the oppressed, who took to heart Gramsci’s lessons on building hegemony. In this brilliant, foundational work, he invites us to learn from our adversaries, to stop living as oblivious subjects and to take back the initiative.’
Saskia Sassen, The Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University
‘Marco d'Eramo is one of the most provocative and insightful thinkers of our time, and his gifts are all splendidly on display in this riveting account of how global elites launched, and eventually won, their war against the poor and the weak.’
Amitav Ghosh, author of The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
Table of ContentsPrologue
1. Counterintelligentsia
2. Ideas Are Weapons
3. The Justice Market
4. Trigger-Happy Parents
5. The Tyranny of Benevolence
6. Capitale sive Nature
7. The Politics Pricelist
8. Arsenic and Witchcraft I
9. Arsenic and Witchcraft II
10. And They All Lived Happily Antily Ever After
11. Social Pornography
12. The Circular Thought of the Economic Circuit
13. The Game is Rigged. However …
14. Time to Learn from Your Enemies
Postscript
Bibliography
Index
