Davos Man

How the Billionaires Devoured the World

By: Peter S. Goodman

Narrated by: Michael David Axtell

A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller • An NPR Best Book of the Year

The New York Times’s Global Economics Correspondent masterfully reveals how billionaires’ systematic plunder of the world—brazenly accelerated during the pandemic—has transformed 21st-century life and dangerously destabilized democracy.

“Davos Man will be read a hundred years from now as a warning.” —Evan Osnos

“Excellent. A powerful, fiery book, and it could well be an essential one.” —NPR.org

The history of the last half century in America, Europe, and other major economies is in large part the story of wealth flowing upward. The most affluent people emerged from capitalism’s triumph in the Cold War to loot the peace, depriving governments of the resources needed to serve their people, and leaving them tragically unprepared for the worst pandemic in a century.

Drawing on decades of experience covering the global economy, award-winning journalist Peter S. Goodman profiles five representative “Davos Men”—members of the billionaire class—chronicling how their shocking exploitation of the global pandemic has hastened a fifty-year trend of wealth centralization. Alongside this reporting, Goodman delivers textured portraits of those caught in Davos Man’s wake, including a former steelworker in the American Midwest, a Bangladeshi migrant in Qatar, a Seattle doctor on the front lines of the fight against COVID, blue-collar workers in the tenements of Buenos Aires, an African immigrant in Sweden, a textile manufacturer in Italy, an Amazon warehouse employee in New York City, and more.

Goodman’s revelatory exposé of the global billionaire class reveals their hidden impact on nearly every aspect of modern society: widening wealth inequality, the rise of anti-democratic nationalism, the shrinking opportunity to earn a livable wage, the vulnerabilities of our health-care systems, access to affordable housing, unequal taxation, and even the quality of the shirt on your back. Meticulously reported yet compulsively readable, Davos Man is an essential read for anyone concerned about economic justice, the capacity of societies to grapple with their greatest challenges, and the sanctity of representative government.

Astounding and succint

Some stuff you think you know but to hear it. It is enlightening and simultaneously disheartening. Author did very well ensuring that this is easily digestible. I can't wait to run it back.

Incredible Performance of Poignant Anti-Elite Observations

Mr Goodeman has hit a home run with this and really strikes a nerve. I was clenching my teeth half the time, and the other half I was engaged with learning new concepts and history. The billionaire class has created the greatest issue of our time and when we question them they brush us off. He offers solutions and tells us why it is so important to address the massive wealth gap and unequal gains distribution. Listen to this and then go create change!!

An eye opener

Every one interested in reducing inequality and preserving our democracy in America should read this.

Maga had the right idea 💡 wrong leader wrong enemy

Fantastic read the best of 2022 so far & if this were required reading by ALL civil servants Davos Men & every reading -abled American we would demand an economic paradigm shift lest the top 1% move into their underground condos & flee for their homes outside the US in an attempt to stave off what they deem an unfair charge to “eat the rich” which is the cosmic lie /1% has double the wealth of 95% combined this is the insanity that Trump supporters defend against their own interests together the masses hold the power to revolt change

Half the story

The author does a good job at identifying the and explaining the manipulation of the global billionaires. He uses fair statistics to emphasize these points.

However, he completely minimizes the problems of mass immigration and uses anecdotal stories to explain away the native westerners concerns.