Introduction
Few issues are more pressing in American politics than inequality–both in economic terms, but also in political representation and voice. As job opportunities dwindled in the wake of the financial crisis, the Occupy Wall Street movement brought the economic concerns of the 99% to the fore, but gaps in wealth, job prospects, and education continue to be at an all-time high. What is even more important and perhaps less transparent is the gap between political representation of the richest and poorest Americans and the hidden ways that money influences politics. Our books on the impact of income inequality in politics–including Larry Bartels’s Unequal Democracy (a book that was on President Obama’s reading list), and the forthcoming Affluence and Influence by Martin I. Gilens as well as The Unheavenly Chorus by Kay Scholzman, Sid Verba, and Henry Brady, tell the real story of the effects of economic inequality on our political system and back up their arguments with unparalleled data and analysis. –Chuck Myers, group publisher in social sciences and editor in political science
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Exclusive ExcerptClick here to download an article on Roosevelt’s notion of a “Second Bill of Rights” Excerpted from The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History.
Featured Book
Unequal Democracy
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The Reading List
 Unequal Democracy The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age Larry M. Bartels |
 The New Gilded Age From Unequal Democracy A Princeton Shorts Larry M. Bartels |
 The Unheavenly Chorus Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba & Henry E. Brady |
 Meritocracy and Economic Inequality Edited by Kenneth Arrow, Samuel Bowles, & Steven Durlauf |
 Inherited Wealth Jens Beckert Translated by Thomas Dunlap |
 Income Distribution in Macroeconomic Models Giuseppe Bertola, Reto Foellmi, & Josef Zweimüller |
 Poverty Traps Edited by Samuel Bowles, Steven N. Durlauf, & Karla Hoff |
 Unequal Chances Family Background and Economic Success Edited by Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, & Melissa Osborne Groves |
 More Equal Than Others America from Nixon to the New Century Godfrey Hodgson |
 The Welfare State Nobody Knows Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy Christopher Howard |
 Privilege The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School Shamus Rahman Khan |
 Poverty Knowledge Social Science, Social Policy, and the Poor in Twentieth-Century U.S. History Alice O’Connor |
 Plenty of Nothing The Downsizing of the American Dream and the Case for Structural Keynesianism Thomas I. Palley |
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