WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 53Review_NONFICTION
Let Them Eat Tweets:
How the Right Rules in an
Age of Extreme Inequality
Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. Liveright,
$26.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-63149-684-4
Political scientists Hacker and Pierson
(American Amnesia) analyze the modern
Republican Party’s shift toward “pluto-
cratic populism” in this barbed and cogent
account. Contending that all conservative
parties within democracies face the same
dilemma of how to protect the interests
of the “economic elite” while winning
electoral support from the masses, Hacker
and Pierson document Richard Nixon’s
efforts to win over white, working-class
voters; Newt Gingrich’s partisan warfare
during the Ronald Reagan and George H.
W. Bush administrations; the rise of the
Koch brothers’ libertarian agenda; and
Donald Trump’s embrace of the “most
radical” Republican priorities. They
examine the role of evangelical Christians,
the NRA, and the right-wing media in
Republican efforts to solve the
“Conservative Dilemma” despite the
unpopularity of their legislative pursuits
(repeal of the Affordable Care Act, tax cuts
for the wealthy), and note that gerryman-
dering, restrictive voter ID laws, the
Electoral College, and malapportionment
in the U.S. Senate help to ensure that
conservative voters have an outsized voice.
Though much of this will be familiar to
politically minded readers, Hacker and
Pierson pull disparate pieces into a lucid
narrative that goes a long way toward
explaining the current iteration of the
Republican Party. Liberals will be equal
parts enraged and edified by this deeply
sourced polemic. Agent: Sydelle Kramer, the
Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (May)
★ The Museum of Whales You
Will Never See: And Other
Excursions to Iceland’s Most
Unusual Museums
A. Kendra Greene. Penguin, $22 (272p)
ISBN 978-0-1431-3546-3
Artist and Southwest Review associate
editor Greene (Vagrants and Uncommon
Visitors) delivers a delightful one-of-a-kind
journey through some of Iceland’s, if not the
world’s, most unusual museums. Greene
takes the reader all over the small island
nation, from remote Bíldudalur, home of
the Icelandic Sea Monster Museum, to tiny
How did you get the idea to compare
the plight of rural chicken farmers,
most of whose businesses are controlled
by one of three big processors, to
workers in the gig economy?
I had a fellowship in what became the
Open Markets Institute, and one of
the fellows there was an extraordinary
writer by the name of Chris Leonard,
who had just finished a
book called The Meat
Racket, in which he
unearths the term chick-
enization. It’s a very real
term that people in the
pork and beef industries
use to describe the way
their industries are
changing. But it
quickly became clear
that it wasn’t just beef
and pork—it was also
sellers getting
“chickenized” on
Amazon. And the word chicken is so
powerful because it’s also about fear.
One of the things that I care the most
about is reinserting the language of
both power and fear into the way that
we talk about the economy. So much
economic thinking takes out the
human element and describes it all in
terms of dollars and cents.One of the book’s chapters is titled
“No, You Don’t Have to Boycott
Amazon.” Why not?
It’s important that we relocate our
power first and foremost as citizens
who have the power to change laws.
When there’s a critique of a big cor-
poration, people think their first
moral obligation is to dissociate fromthe corporation. But the problem with
these monopolies is that they’re
totally integrated into our society—
boycotting them is like boycotting
public water. And certainly the less
power you have, the less ability you
have to boycott. So there’s a strong
class element. But most importantly,
there’s a dangerous joining of neoliberal
market ideology with
language and images
from some very pow-
erful boycott move-
ments to suggest that
our primary role is that
of a consumer instead
of a citizen. One of the
things that I’ve noticed
is that when people
don’t feel like they can
boycott these monopo-
lies, they’re overcome
with guilt and shame
that they no longer
have the standing to object. It’s really,
really disempowering.How do voters incentivize politicians
to adopt antitrust solutions?
Politicians who are ready to tap into
this are tapping into a well of fire.
There is so much anger and under-
standing already out there. We’re in a
new antimonopoly moment—which
means it’s going to be a major fight.
Some of the most powerful forces in
world history have every interest in
stopping this nascent movement. But
our job is not to create the movement;
it’s to tie together all the pieces that
are already out there. That was one of
the purposes of the book.
—Tara Saunders[Q&A]
PW Talks with Zephyr Teachout
The New Antimonopoly Moment
In Break ’Em Up (All Points, May; reviewed on p. 52), attorney
Teachout writes that the time to take on corporate monopolies is now.© jesse dittmar