{"product_id":"bad-company-private-equity-and-the-death-of-the-american-dream","title":"Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e* KIRKUS BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2025*\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e*ONE OF AV CLUB'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[An] indictment of an industry that has cannily tilted the playing field in its favor. \u003ci\u003eBad Company\u003c\/i\u003e details how clichéd abstractions like 'consolidation' and 'efficiency' have given cover to real betrayals.\" - \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA timely work of singular reportage and a damning indictment of the private equity industry told through the stories of four American workers whose lives and communities were upended by the ruinous effects of corporate takeovers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate equity runs our country, yet few Americans have any idea how ingrained it is in their lives. Private equity controls our hospitals, daycare centers, supermarket chains, voting machine manufacturers, local newspapers, nursing home operators, fertility clinics, and prisons. The industry even manages highways, municipal water systems, fire departments, emergency medical services, and owns a growing swath of commercial and residential real estate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate equity executives, meanwhile, are not only among the wealthiest people in American society, but have grown to become modern-day barons with outsized influence on our politics and legislation. CEOs of firms like Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, and Apollo are rewarded with seats in the Senate and on the boards of the country's most august institutions; meanwhile, entire communities are hollowed out as a result of their buyouts. Workers lose their jobs. Communities lose their institutions. Only private equity wins.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcclaimed journalist Megan Greenwell's \u003ci\u003eBad Company\u003c\/i\u003e unearths the hidden story of corporate greed and the world of private equity by examining the lives of four American workers that were devastated as private equity upended their employers and communities: a Toys R Us floor supervisor, a rural doctor, a local newspaper journalist, and an affordable housing organizer. Taken together, their individual experiences also pull back the curtain on a much larger project: how the relentless pursuit of shareholder value reshaped the American economy to serve its own interests, creating a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their livelihoods, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of deeply human reportage like Matthew Desmond's \u003ci\u003eEvicted\u003c\/i\u003e, Megan Greenwell pulls back the curtain on shadowy multibillion dollar private equity firms, telling a larger story about how private equity is reshaping the economy, disrupting communities, and hollowing out the very idea of the American dream itself. Timely and masterfully told, \u003ci\u003eBad Company\u003c\/i\u003e is a forceful rebuke of America's most consequential, yet least understood economic forces.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis damning work of investigative journalism reveals: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Human Cost of Wall Street: \u003c\/b\u003e Follow the true stories of four American workers--a Toys R Us supervisor, a rural doctor, a local journalist, and a housing organizer--whose lives were upended by corporate takeovers.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eInvestigative Journalism at Its Finest: \u003c\/b\u003e In the tradition of Matthew Desmond's \u003ci\u003eEvicted\u003c\/i\u003e, Greenwell unearths the hidden story of an industry that operates in the shadows, controlling everything from hospitals and daycares to local newspapers and prisons.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eLeveraged Buyouts Explained: \u003c\/b\u003e Discover how financial engineering creates a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their jobs, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Fight for America's Future: \u003c\/b\u003e A forceful rebuke of the private equity playbook and a damning indictment of the least understood--and most consequential--economic force in America today.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0063299356\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780063299351\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Greenwell, Megan\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Dey Street Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Dey Street Books","offers":[{"title":"HardCover (Jun 2025)","offer_id":45937200234693,"sku":"9780063299351","price":28.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780063299351.jpg?v=1772856305","url":"https:\/\/www.inveni.store\/products\/bad-company-private-equity-and-the-death-of-the-american-dream","provider":"Inveni","version":"1.0","type":"link"}