Books about the Koch Brothers

• Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty, by Daniel Schulman (2015, Grand Central Publishing)
  From publisher comments: Influenced by the sentiments of their father, who was present at the birth of the John Birch Society, Charles and David have spent decades trying to remake the American political landscape and mainline their libertarian views into the national bloodstream. They now control a machine that is a center of gravity within the Republican Party.


• Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer (2016, BANTAM DOUBLEDAY DELL)
  From publisher comments: When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible “philanthropy.”


• Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, by Christopher Leonard (2019, Simon & Schuster)
  From publisher comments: Leonard uses the extraordinary account of how the biggest private company in the world grew to be that large to tell the story of modern corporate America. The annual revenue of Koch Industries is bigger than that of Goldman Sachs, Facebook, and U.S. Steel combined.


• Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean
  James McGill Buchanan (1919-2013) was an economist who provided the Koch brothers with an intellectual underpinning for their libertarian ideology. Nancy MacLean's recent book is the most comprehensive look at Buchanan's rise and legacy, but articles by Sam Tanenhaus and by Lynn Parramore provide quick summaries. Buchanan's most significant contribution is "public choice theory" which assumes that public actors, in a way similar to private ones, behave selfishly. The theory is built on this founding principle, which was also endorsed a century or more earlier by John Calhoun. Buchanan's public choice theory is one of the most extreme and deeply embedded ideational technologies of the radical right because 1) it is internally consistent, 2) it stands up to many forms of empirical validation, and 3) for many people it resonates with deep beliefs about freedom, liberty, private property, individual greed, and choice. Yet at its core, it is nasty, mean and ultimately enables the rich and privileged few. For example, in his views on charity, Buchanan went even further than Ayn Rand (who 'didn't consider it a major virtue') in his paper on the so-called "Samaritan's dilemma", in which he argues that charity is harmful.
  From publisher comments: Behind today’s headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy in Chains names its true architect—the Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan—and dissects the operation he and his colleagues designed over six decades to alter every branch of government to disempower the majority....And when a multibillionaire on a messianic mission to rewrite the social contract of the modern world, Charles Koch, discovered Buchanan, he created a vast, relentless, and multi-armed machine to carry out Buchanan’s strategy.

Podcasts and Video

• On Fresh Air with Terry Gross, author Daniel Schulman, describes the Kochs as having pumped hundreds of millions into remaking the American political landscape, trying to bring their libertarian views into the mainstream (40 min).


• Jane Mayer, the author of "Dark Money" discusses the conservative billionaires who revolutionized American politics on "On the Media" (15 minutes).


• On "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" author of "Kochland", Christopher Leonard discusses the last 5 decades of American capitalism through an account of Koch industries (40 min).


• The New Yorker; author, "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical and Jill Abramson, Senior lecturer, Harvard University; political columnist (1 hr)


• Nancy MacLean discusses her book “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America,” which delves into the destructive “libertarian” ideology the Koch brothers fund to keep the minority in power. Also, English professor, Tymofey Wowk, shares his strategies for teaching students in the age of social media (a little over an hour).


• Nancy MacLean, introduced by Greg Grandin, talked about her work in 2018 (1 hour 30 min).


• Sociologist and political scientist Theda Skocpol presents early results from a collaborative study of "The Shifting U.S. Political Terrain" (about 80 min). This is a deep dive in how the Koch system has evolved, and how it exerts its influence.


• On the New Books Network Journalist and academic Anne Nelson discusses her book "Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right", in which she discusses the "CNP [Council for National Policy] and the coalition’s key figures and tactics. Over four decades, this elite organization has become a strategic nerve center for channeling money and mobilizing votes behind the scenes. Its secretive membership represents a high-powered roster of Republican strategists, Christian Conservative leaders, and billionaires"

Other stuff

• The movie The Brainwashing of My Dad through interviews with "media luminaries, cognitive linguists, grassroots activist groups such as: Noam Chomsky, Steve Rendall, Jeff Cohen, Eric Boehlert, George Lakoff, Carol Wallin from STOP RUSH, HearYourselfThink, Claire Conner and others, “Brainwashing” unravels the plan to shift the country to the Right over the last 30 years, largely through media manipulation. The result has led to fewer voices, less diversity of opinion, massive intentional misinformation and greater division of our country."
• These are links to sources that cover topics raised in the movie or that came up during the discussion after our local screening of The Brainwashing of My Dad and these are links (proceeds from sales may support the producers of the movie if you buy books through this site) to books that provide deeper background.


• Videos from the Kochwatch.org site
• UnKochMyCampus is a site founded by digital organizer Jasmine Banks


• The Federalist Society and judges
• The Right-Wing Legal Network Is Now Openly Pushing Conspiracy Theories
  The right-wing legal network spawned by the Federalist Society has finally gone full Trumpian. It has morphed from a group of apparently principled conservatives debating high-minded theories of legal interpretation into a secretly funded cabal spouting conspiracy theories such as the myth of widespread voter fraud.


• Other Dark Money billionaires