Professor David Gibbs Publishes Book on America's Class Divide

Revolt of the Rich: How the Politics of the 1970s Widened America's Class Divide, by David Gibbs, a professor in the Department of History at the University of Arizona, is set to be published in June 2024, by Columbia University Press.
 
"Inequality in the United States has reached staggering proportions, with a massive share of wealth held by the very richest," said the Columbia University Press site. "David N. Gibbs explores the forces that shaped the turn toward free market economics and wealth concentration and finds their roots in the 1970s. He argues that the political transformations of this period resulted from a “revolt of the rich,” whose defense of their class interests came at the expense of the American public."

"An original and compelling analysis ... that provides valuable insights about the recent past and critical lessons for today," said Noam Chomsky, laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona.

Drawing on extensive archival research, the book examines how elites established broad coalitions that brought together business conservatives, social traditionalists, and militarists. Through a potent influence campaign, Gibbs says "academics and intellectuals sold laissez-faire to policymakers and the public, justifying choices to deregulate industry, cut social spending, curb organized labor, and offshore jobs, alongside expanding military interventions overseas."

Gibbs' third book is a departure from his focus on the global stage.

"My most recent project has moved away from international relations and is focused on U.S. history," said Gibbs. "In particular, I've been looking at the topic of wealth concentration in the United States, which has become extraordinarily great over the last 50 years. I look at the question of why wealth concentration took place, and the political processes that led to it focusing on the decade of the 1970s." 

"David Gibbs has written a jargon-free, carefully researched account..." said Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine.  

Gibbs is the author of two books: First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (Vanderbilt University Press), and The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, and US Policy in the Congo Crisis (University of Chicago Press). He has published extensively in academic journals as well as the London Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde Diplomatique, Salon, and Jacobin.

Discover more about Gibbs' background, interests, and publishing contributions in this recent interview with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.