Money, Lies, and God

Reviews

Here is the life-and-death story most news outlets have missed. Under the evermore intense pressure of multi-billionaire donors determined to shackle democracy and entrepreneurial Christian nationalist leaders eager to take away our freedoms, the Right has radicalized since 2020 into outright fascism, full of menace and exhortations to violence against a majority they have worked diligently to dehumanize. Katherine Stewart provides a bracing must-read story of how the varied streams have merged into a mighty river moving toward massive destruction—and explains to readers how together we can divert it. Katherine Stewart has written what may be the most important political book of the day, exposing the networks of dark money funded, ultra right-wing subversives who have already done enormous damage to our Constitution and the rule of law and are now perilously close to overthrowing the American government as we know it. With persuasive precision and undeniable documentation, Stewart names and connects the dots, refusing to normalize the frighteningly abnormal, confronting powerful forces that too few reporters comprehend, let alone describe. A stunning, sweeping account of the coordinated movement to destroy the American experiment through dark money, political organizing, ideological distortion, thuggery, and authoritarianism, Money, Lies, and God is required reading for every person who wields a vote. Not since Dorothy Thompson has a writer documented fascist organizing so persuasively and cogently; this book places Katherine Stewart among the most significant journalists of her generation. Katherine Stewart has written a book that pierces through the fog and noise to reveal the dangerous forces gathering, planning and plotting against liberty. She echoes the warnings of Dorothy Thompson about fascism: 'There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, and the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of the happenings.' Stewart hits the mark. Writing here as part investigative journalist, part sociologist and part political philosopher, Katherine Stewart provides an indispensable citizen’s guide to the anti-democratic MAGA Right in America. In Money, Lies and God, the whole gang is here in their dubious political glory – anti-Vaxx Internet provocateurs, pro-Putin anti-abortion zealots, authoritarian Harvard Law professors, anti-gay fanatics, billionaire funders like Tom Monaghan and the Koch brothers, crazed neo-fascist thinkers, exurban megachurch power players, Opus Dei, right-wing political bosses, Michael Flynn, John Eastman, Roger Stone and the well-paid apparatus of political and juridical reaction and corruption. This is a vibrant ideological ecosystem but Stewart explains why the vast majority of Americans must reject its dark vision and defeat its politicians. Meticulously researched, elegantly written, and hard-hitting, Money Lies and God provides a riveting account of the forces that have brought our nation to the brink. If this book comes too late to save our democracy, it will offer the definitive postmortem. From the halls of Congress and state legislative buildings to the city council chambers and school boards of your town, America’s democracy is under threat as never before. How did we get here? In this powerful piece of investigative journalism, Katherine Stewart uses good, old-fashioned digging to provide the answer. Stewart follows the money, exposes the major players, identifies the foot soldiers and explains the radical philosophy underlying an alarming scheme by Christian Nationalists and other extremists to replace our democracy with a theocracy. Stewart has laid bare the plot. The next step is up to us. Drawing on 15 years of reporting … Stewart’s fine-grained and eye-opening investigation meticulously outlines the loose organizational structure that keeps these strange bedfellows banded together—with a focus on the lines of connections between the movement’s funders, intellectuals, and foot-soldiers. This offers urgently needed background on the 2024 election results. Organized, clear, and compelling … journalism of the highest order … This is an important book and it couldn’t appear at a more opportune time. [Stewart]’s eyewitness account is riveting and will terrify anyone who believes in democratic governance … a compelling read. An in-depth look at the chief strands that make up the American far right … An impassioned takedown of a ‘militant minority.' Expand reviews