Gibbs book fills a void in 1970s history, which is steadily gaining more attention. Not only did politics start shifting to the right, but the decade's policies laid the groundwork for increasing income inequality. Something that is often attributed to Reagan, Gibbs makes the case that presidents and policies enacted during the prior decade really were to blame.
It be clear, this was not the intended purpose of government actions at the time; a lot was the result of deregulation and conservative shifts during the latter years of the decade (the Carter presidency in particular). Rather than use the book to outright condemn certain political beliefs and philosophies, Gibbs instead focuses on the impact of the legislation and decisions made at the time.
There would be no 1980s without the 1970s. We often think about the 1980s as the "Greed is Good" decade and the impact that Reagan's political agenda had on the country. This book argues that what truly starts this is not the "Morning in America" feeling brought on by Reagan but the policies made before him, and that which he doubled down upon.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding where the argument about the 1% comes from, who may be interested in economic history, or the 1970s in general

This book is a history of the wealth gap in America and the politics that made that gap possible, with a heavy focus on the 1970s and the decades before that. It examines policies that cemented that gap into place, the people that supported them, and the overall effects that those policies had.

I picked this up from Netgalley because I was intrigued by the concept and I thought that I would enjoy reading this. I really wanted to like this. But I am finding it impossible to follow what is going on in this book. I got 15% into the arc I have of this and I just have to tap out. I 100% understand why someone would like this but the idea of returning to this is making me not want to read at all. It is much more dense than I thought it would be and I just cant finish it for now. Would `00% be willing to come back to this in the future when I'm in the right headspace for this kind of read but right now is not that time. Not reviewing on Goodreads as I did not finish the book.