The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do about It [Hardcover]

Timothy Noah (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 24, 2012

 

For the past three decades, America has steadily become a nation of haves and have-nots. Our incomes are increasingly drastically unequal: the top 1% of Americans collect almost 20% of the nation’s income—more than double their share in 1973. We have less equality of income than Venezuela, Kenya, or Yemen.

What economics Nobelist Paul Krugman terms "the Great Divergence" has until now been treated as little more than a talking point, a club to be wielded in ideological battles. But it may be the most important change in this country during our lifetimes—a sharp, fundamental shift in the character of American society, and not at all for the better.

The income gap has been blamed on everything from computers to immigration, but its causes and consequences call for a patient, non-partisan exploration. In The Great Divergence, Timothy Noah delivers this urgently needed inquiry, ignoring political rhetoric and drawing on the best work of contemporary researchers to peer beyond conventional wisdom. Noah explains not only how "the Great Divergence" has come about, but why it threatens American democracy—and most important, how we can begin to reverse it.

The Great Divergence is poised to be one of the most talked-about books of 2012, a jump-start to the national conversation about what kind of society we aspire to be in the 21st century: a land of equality, or a city on a hill—with a slum at the bottom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very impressive and important book"—William Julius Wilson, The Nation

"The Great Divergence by Timothy Noah is a book about income inequality, and if you’re thinking, ‘Do we really need another book about income inequality?’ the answer is yes. We need this one."—Joe Nocera, New York Times

"In The Great Divergence, the journalist Timothy Noah gives us as fair and comprehensive a summary as we are likely to get of what economists have learned about our growing inequality....Along the way, he enlivens what might otherwise be a dry recounting of research findings with fast-paced historical vignettes featuring colorful characters like the novelist Horatio Alger, the labor leader Walter Reuther, and the business lobbyist Bryce Harlow."—Benjamin Friedman, New York Times Book Review (front page review)

"The Great Divergence is a welcome antidote…. I particularly recommend Noah’s list of solutions…. his book is both much needed and a delight to read."—Andrew Hacker, The New York Review of Books

"Timothy Noah has written a graceful book on income inequality in America, based on his prize-winning 2011 series for Slate. And The Great Divergence is well-timed: it emerges just as inequality is being transformed, via crisis and stress, from an academic backwater into a leading issue of the age … In short, this is a valuable book."—James K. Galbraith, Salon.com

"Superb … Noah is our unpretentious Detective Columbo, walking us through theories of the case."—Rich Yeselson, The American Prospect

"A timely, cogent and fair-minded book from journalist Timothy Noah about the shrinking of the U.S. middle class…. the sentences are graceful, and the points are clear…. I was glad last week when Noah was available to debate Edward Conard, whose forthcoming book, Unintended Consequences, embraces harsh economic inequity as the just reward for innovators. Conard, a former partner in Bain Capital, resides in the upper 0.01 percent income bracket. Noah's book is a rebuttal, a potent argument that the ‘worst thing we could do to the Great Divergence is get used to it.’"—Karen R. Long, The Plain Dealer

"Noah’s…thesis is seductive…. [his] book is a valuable addition to the political landscape. Uncontrolled inequality is undermining many of America’s best attributes. As he concludes, ‘The worst thing we could do to the Great Divergence is get used to it.’"—Sasha Abramsky, The Washington Spectator

"Noah successfully explains complex economic trends in common parlance. In this presidential election year, his book provides an excellent introduction to the hot topic of income inequality. Recommended for the 99 percent and anyone else concerned with the future of America's middle class."—Rebekah Wallin, Library Journal

"Economic equality has slipped to an alarming low in the United States. In The Great Divergence Timothy Noah does an excellent job of telling us how this happened—and why it matters … [an] essential new … accessible, erudite book."—Jordan Michael Smith, The Christian Science Monitor

"A reader might assume that he’s already read Tim’s award-winning series in Slate, and the beautiful slideshow that went with it, and wonder whether he needs to read the book as well. The answer is yes - this is in no way a padded out magazine article. The series was about inequality itself; the book is more of a story—and really, in its way, a dramatic one."—Mark Schmitt, WashingtonMonthly.com’s "Ten Miles Square" blog

"One of 2012's most important books … a landmark analysis of the subject."—Ed Kilgore, WashingtonMonthly.com’s "Political Animal" blog

"So you’re busy and stressed and have time to read just one book on America’s faultline crisis of widening inequality. This is the one. Tim Noah, a pro’s pro among the nation’s press corps, reveals why America has increasingly become a land of haves and have-nots—and how to reverse that soul-crushing trend—with insight, verve, thoroughness and surprising passion. A must read."—Ron Suskind, author of Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President

"This book is profoundly fascinating and important. The growth of income inequality over the past three decades has caused a contentious partisan debate based more on ideology than fact. Timothy Noah provides a clear, dispassionate look at what has (and has not) caused this trend and what we can do about it. Everyone who cares about the future of America’s middle class should read it."—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin and President of the Aspen Institute

"This may be the most important book of the year. Timothy Noah explores the most significant long-term trend in our country, and he writes with an ease and clarity that makes reading this book a pleasure. Buy it now and read it. You’ll probably end up buying more copies for your friends and colleagues."—Thomas E. Ricks, author of Fiasco and The Gamble

“This is the book the 99 percent has been waiting for. Crisply lucid and brilliantly argued, The Great Divergence manages to entertain at the same time that it explains. Best of all, Noah offers some strikingly sensible steps to undo the economic polarization that is tearing America apart.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed; Bait and Switch; and Bright-Sided

"A lucid, original, fascinating, and very useful guide to the biggest threat to America's future as a democracy. Noah has pulled together the whole array of explanations for the increasing Third World-ization of America—and he has sorted them out for us, with a guide to which are most important and what we can do about them. This is the book that should have been given out at the Occupy movements and—well, to everyone."—James Fallows, author of China Airborne and Breaking the News

“Timothy Noah has taken the most consequential domestic issue of this or any election and made us understand it in a completely new way. The Great Divergence is compelling, important and hugely readable. I learned something new in almost every sentence.”—Jonathan Alter, author of The Promise and The Defining Moment

"An instant classic."—Ariana Huffington

“Essential background reading for the coming elections.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Comprehensive, fair-minded, and lucid … Noah makes a convincing and passionate case for why rising inequality harms a working democracy." -Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

Timothy Noah was recently named "TRB," the lead columnist at The New Republic. He wrote for Slate for a dozen years, and previously served at the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, and the Washington Monthly. He edited two collections of the writings of his late wife, Marjorie Williams, including the New York Times bestseller The Woman at the Washington Zoo. Noah received the 2011 Hillman Prize, the highest award for public service magazine journalism, for the series in Slate that forms the basis of The Great Divergence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press; First edition (April 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160819633X
• ISBN-13: 978-1608196333
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 57 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars the book starts a discussion; doesn't end it April 9, 2012

By Robert D. Harmon VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As for what it sets out to do -- describe, in well-researched detail, the economic mess that America is in -- it succeeds. We've heard the talking points, and we've seen some details, in bits and pieces, in columns like those of Paul Krugman and Robert Reich. Here, at least, is a resource for anyone who wants to understand, and discuss, the problem in coherent terms.

The picture Mr. Noah describes is alarming enough, in his telling. Inequality in wealth has revived since its low point in Eisenhower's time, certainly inequality took off in Reagan's. Inequality in _income_ is even more unequal, and more alarming, as he shows. Demographic data -- shifts in family and ethnicity -- is one factor, but just one. The cost of a college education rises rapidly, is debt-ridden rapidly, at a time when it's the new minimum for skilled labor and a middle-class existence. Jobs going offshore is part of it, but not all. Government tax reform since Reagan was part of it, but shifts in government regulation and social policy, much more so. The fall in labor-union power and membership, and the rise in the uppermost weathy, is part of it, but Europe had the same global-market shocks but much less union decline and less visible-wealth rise.

In this light, the "why it matters" chapter may seem just a series of rebuttals to the conventional wisdom, and I can see how it might have disappointed other reviewers. Reading this chapter, the reader needs to remember all the material that went before. Yes, we understand: inequality is not good; income disparity does matter -- a lot -- and creates, yes, unhappiness; the quality of life is not improving even though productivity has; and deny it as you will, inequality is on the rise. He should have stated this in this summary perhaps with more emphasis, because the final "what to do" chapter is radical. Tax the rich; increase the gov't payroll; issue more H-1B permits for foreign skills; universalize preschool and contain college costs; bring back financial regulation; encourage labor unions; and (perhaps too flippantly stated) elect Democratic presidents. (Although I should note that Obama just signed (4/2012) new legislation -- his "JOBS" act -- loosening investment regulations even further).

Still, it's handy to have this book and its data. The national discussion has been way too simplistic and this at least groups the complexities in well-sorted ways.

Strongly recommend this book -- but let it help you draw your own conclusions.

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Preaching to the Choir but Doing It Well February 25, 2012

By not a natural VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Timothy Noah's book The Great Divergence is interesting and well-written, an easy read, for the most part, and loaded with information from a broad and varied range of sources. As Noah acknowledges, there is nothing really new in the book, and folks who have an abiding interest in income inequality, its causes and consequences, will find themselves in familiar territory. However, for a reader who has not been pretty thoroughly immersed in this literature for the last decade or so, there is just too much information to assimilate in a brief period. The Great Divergence runs just under two hundred pages, but much of the material presented is statistical in nature, and though it's not hard to understand, there is just too much to remember, even in a general way, unless the reader takes the time to absorb it.

As one might imagine from the title, Noah's work will not appeal to all readers. It seems quite clear that its approval rating will be pretty high among those who lean a bit to what passes for the left in this day and age, but the same evaluation will be abysmally low among those on the right. There was a time, say thirty or forty years ago, when forecasts such as this were not so easily made. After all, the Republican Richard Nixon was President when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency were created, and Nixon was the last President to impose broad-based wage and price controls. Whatever the value of these endeavors, today they would be anathema to just about any Republican and to most Blue-Dog Democrats, inviting characterization as manifestations of up-dated Stalinism. The polarization of political life in the U.S. makes it easy to anticipate how readers from broad-gauged political categories will respond to Noah's discussion, leaving him preaching to the choir. Inadequate incomes and uncertainty as to the future are primary sources of the acrimonious ideological divisions among us, and both serve the interests of those at the very top of the income distribution

While Noah takes pains to be factually accurate, he, as with any author, gets to select which facts are pertinent, just as he was the one who decided that earnings inequality is an issue that merits being treated at length. Nevertheless, he gives fairly compelling evidence of citing and consulting social scientists on both the left and the right. Yes, he's much more likely to agree with interpretations provided by by the liberal economist Paul Krugman than the conservative economist Finis Welch, but he seems determined not to misrepresent the views of anyone. If he relies too heavily on Krugman, this may be simply because left-of-center economists are far less numerous than conservative ones, a set of circumstances that is tied to the prevailing neo-classical and monetarist orthodoxy.

While I find myself in general agreement with Noah's point of view, he makes what I take to be some pretty serious errors in judgment with regard to the nature and location of the great divergence. Income inequality among the lower eighty percent of the population is troublesome, in my view, only because there are so many people in this range who have incomes so meager as to make bare survival problematic and a commonsensically decent way of living impossible. Even those whom Noah identifies as occupying the very middle of the middle class are just squeaking by, especially if they have children. That damaging set of circumstances is exacerbated, moreover, by the fact that family incomes in this group are more or less adequate only because most families have two or more bread-winners, and many still barely manage. Rick Santorum may really believe that women put their kids in day care and go to work in search of occupational fulfillment, but it's really due to economic necessity. In short, The Great Divergence is not located in the lower four quintiles of the income distribution. Most of these folks are getting pretty thoroughly ripped off. The Great Divergence that matters occurs at the highest income levels

Noah's recourse to education, the college educated as compared to those with lesser attainments, is similarly misleading. Today, education of any sort and any level is a gamble. There are no long-term -- maybe not even any medium term -- guarantees with regard to choice of major or kind of training. Until I retired in May of 2010, I taught for twenty-three years at a mid-sized state university. Graduates, including folks with graduate degrees, were often unable to find anything better than low-wage, no-benefits grunt work when they left school. Nationally, payoffs for investments in higher education are routinely over-estimated. Yes, it's better to have a degree than not have one, but payoffs in terms of purchasing power have been declining for at least three decades. At the highest income levels, moreover, education is not even tenuously related to the pernicious enormity of pecuniary attainments, the wealth of the controlling elite.

If we construe income inequality as a problem, it's one that does not have an educational solution. Noah's uncritical acknowledgment of the Reagan Administration's trashing of public education in A Nation at Risk, blaming it for every imaginable social problem, including declining real incomes for most of us, is disappointing.

On the other hand, the author's observation that workers' incomes are no longer tied to productivity is right on the mark. The same is true of his judgment that institutional and cultural changes have left us defenseless against the encroachment of a Banana Republic-style unwillingness and inability to take concerted collective action against the devaluation of our workforce. The Reaganesque rugged individualism that has left us without a sense of national community has had politically devastating effects, reducing our electorate to powerlessness when faced with ever-more meager opportunities. The Great Divergence, properly construed, has put the very wealthy in a position of economic and political control over the rest of us. More and more, they decide what jobs are created and destroyed, what wage rates prevail, what constitutes the material rudiments of an acceptable life style, and their big-bucks buying power has given them ever-greater control of the political life of the nation. One consequence of this is that income attainment has become at least as heritable from generation to generation as physical attributes such as height! Truly astonishing, and to the author's credit that he gives this finding its due.

This book is not for everyone, but it is an honest and informed journalistic effort to explain the causes and consequences of income inequality. In that sense, in spite of occasional missteps, the author has succeeded admirably. As with most critically evaluative treatments of important aspects of American society, however, the author's remedies do not inspire hope: they are either substantively misguided or politically near-impossible. Readers might do well to skip the last chapter, though I'm sure Noah did his best with it. When solutions to social problems are not known, it does not reflect adversely on an author if he fails to find any.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Read March 19, 2012

By Veil_Lord VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'll say first off that I'm more a righty bend than a lefty, but if you'll forgive the cliche, "Labels are for soup cans, man." Income disparity, while not in itself wrong, at a certain rate becomes unfair and oppressive if you're "left" and destabilizing risk to prosperity if you're "right". Both sides want a similar result. The differences are how you go about it. The topic of the book isn't right or left.

The overall tone is more from the left side of things, the author I take to be fairly liberal, however as I mentioned in my opening that's no reason to dismiss him. If you're more conservative, then you may be irked by a few things here and there, but you'll also be presented with some liberal dirty laundry that isn't widely talked about nowadays, such as Progressives involvement in eugenics. To anybody who can't take having your side needled a little bit, skip this book and go read some boring dogma.

The book is only a couple hundred pages and a pretty easy read. It's not a bunch of dry statistics to wade through. I may be a geek for this kind of thing, but I found it as interesting as an average mystery novel. However there were some problems. I will note that I'm reading a pre-release copy, so it's a possibility that some of my issues with it below were addressed.

There were a lot of bits I agreed with at least in principle. For example, I found myself agreeing with much of the union (mostly Detroit) chapter information; for example, the theory presented makes perfect sense to have the workers share in the productivity increase and keeping prices in synch so the company doesn't just raise costs and perpetuate an inflation spiral. How realistic it is to maintain that on a global economy, I'm honestly not sure.

However, about halfway through that chapter it gets a little weird. The author didn't bring up any issue with guaranteed pensions, which introduce a set liability regardless of the company's future profits/productivity, and pushed "real" pay for union autoworkers to (depending on your source) around $73 per hour, factoring in all benefits. It also overlooks the impacts of infamous agreements where employers paid people to not work in exchange for allowing in more automation. While he makes a good argument that the unions provided a good balance as profits rose, at the same time he ignores how they tied the hands of the big auto makers when harder times hit. I felt only one side was well represented in the chapter. I found Mr. Noah's lack of balance on this here and later in the book to somewhat ding his credibility when discussing his potential solutions. For a better explanation of UAW labor, check out American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company; it's an all around great book.

A minor note, but I was also perplexed as to his presentation of "card check" vs "secret-ballot" voting. He brings up that card voting allows for intimidation by local union bosses, which makes sense because you know who's dissenting. However, he then says that the secret voting opens up the opportunity for employers to intimidate workers, without explaining why a secret vote would favor management over labor for intimidation. It's possibly a completely valid point he just made badly, but the lack of an argument left me confused and unsatisfied on that point.

He kind of lost me getting into solutions. The importing of more skilled labor to reduce the wages of native skilled labor seemed more of a universal misery than raising up the lower incomes. The bit on price controls on colleges has some merit in theory, though price controls tend to cause a lot of other issues that he doesn't address. Others like soaking the rich work to a point, but now more than any time in history the super rich can just up and leave. Another issue, as some states are finding out, if you base your taxation mostly on the top percentile, when they have a bad year on the stock market your whole budget can be thrown a curve ball and the poor ultimately will suffer a loss of services.

I can't think of much else to note. Basically, I liked the first half with all the information, but it didn't lead me to the same conclusions as Mr. Noah reached. I don't think this book will change anybody's mind. Still a decent read though.