Meet the Billionaires: the 1,645 men and women who control a massive share of global assets worth $6.5 trillion. Darrell M. West reveals what the other 99.99998% of us need to know.

The top one percent own about one-third of the assets in America and 40 percent of assets around the world. This concentration of financial resources in many countries gives the ultra-rich extraordinary influence over elections, public policy, and governance. In Billionaires, Darrell West analyzes the growing political activism of billionaires and how they have created more activist forms of politics and philanthropy based on their net worth. With this “wealthification” of politics and society, it is important to understand how this concentration of wealth affects system performance as well as social and economic opportunity.

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Event:

How Billionaires are Reshaping Politics, Philanthropy, and Society
The Brookings Institution, September 19, 2014

Podcast:

Video & Audio:

2014: Battle of the Billionaires
MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, October 13, 2014

Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust
C-SPAN2 BookTV, September 30, 2014

How Billionaires Control the World: Darrell West
Yahoo! News, September 22, 2014

How Billionaires Are Remaking The World
On Point with Tom Ashbrook, September 18, 2014

The Foxhole: West Examines Lives of the Super Rich in 'Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust'
Fox News, September 17, 2014

Who Are the Most Politically Powerful Billionaires?
Bloomberg TV, September 16, 2014

Who Are America's Most Powerful Billionaires?
Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2014

Op-Eds:

How I Upset Donald Trump and a Few Other Powerful Billionaires
The Atlantic, December 5, 2014

The October Surprise Will Be Last-Minute Billionaire Dollars
Huffington Post, October 14, 2014

The 1 Percent's Twisted New Scheme: The Kochs and Other Billionaires Are Determined to Buy the White House in 2016
Salon, September 28, 2014

Five Myths About Billionaires
The Washington Post, September 26, 2014

Republican Big Bucks Backfire
USA Today, August 11, 2014

Can a Billionaire Save Ukraine?
Huffington Post, May 30, 2014

The Democrats' Billionaire Dilemma
Real Clear Politics, April 30, 2014

Reviews & Related Articles:

Extreme Wealth Is Bad for Everyone—Especially the Wealthy
New Republic, November 12, 2014

What Did This Scholar Learn From His Deep Dive Into the World of Billionaires?
Inside Philanthropy, October 15, 2014

The Billionaires Bending American Politics to Their Will
Financial Times, October 12, 2014

The Science of Power: Billionaires, Elites and Social Mobility
Social Mobility Memos (The Brookings Institution), September 22, 2014

Technopreneurs: How Tech Innovations Have Created a New Generation of Billionaires
TechTank (The Brookings Institution), September 18, 2014

The Billionaires of Global Politics
The Hill, September 18, 2014

The Politics Gap Between The Rich And The Rest
The National Memo, September 18, 2014

Where the World's Billionaires Are
CBS Money Watch, September 17, 2014

Meet the 25 Billionaires Who Control Everything
Centre for Research on Globalization, September 14, 2014

The Billionaires Bending American Politics to Their Will (subscription required)
Financial Times, September 12, 2014

The New War on Big Money in Politics
The Daily Beast, September 10, 2014

Meet the Billionaires: New Book by Darrell West
GoLocalProv, September 9, 2014

U.S. Billionaires Apply Own Checks and Balances
Reuters, September 8, 2014

4 New Approaches to Reaching and Cultivating Today's Billionaires
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 8, 2014

There’s a New Ranking of the Most Politically Powerful Billionaires. And, No, We Don’t Agree With It.
The Washington Post, September 5, 2014

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire — and Flex Political Muscle? Here's a List
American City Business Journals, September 5, 2014

Koch Brothers Named Most Influential Billionaires
The Washington Examiner, September 5, 2014

Advance Praise: