The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap explained

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
Border:	yes
Author:	Matt Taibbi
Illustrator:	Molly Crabapple
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Subject:	Sociological jurisprudence, justice, wealth
Genre:	Non-fiction
Publisher:	Spiegel & Grau
Release Date:	April 2014
Media Type:	Print (Hardback)
Pages:	448 pp.
Isbn:	978-0812993424
Preceded By:	Griftopia
Followed By:	Insane Clown President

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap is a 2014 non-fiction book by journalist Matt Taibbi about wealth inequality in the United States and its impact on the American conception of justice and the legal system.^[1]

Overview

Published by Spiegel & Grau, the book illustrates the "divide" by looking at the relationship between growing income inequality and the criminalization of poverty, as poor people are increasingly harassed, arrested and imprisoned for minor crimes in the U.S., sometimes for no actual crime at all, even as crime rates continue to plummet, resulting in a prison population that "is now the biggest in the history of human civilization."^[2] At the same time, Taibbi writes, white-collar criminals who continue to defraud the financial system avoid punishment, allowing them to accumulate even more wealth without fear of future prosecution.^[3] Taibbi argues that as a result of this divide, money has now redefined the meaning of justice, distorting the very notion of American citizenship and challenging the founding ideals of its nation. The Los Angeles Times called the book "advocacy journalism at its finest, an attempt to stir us up."^{[4] [5]}

See also

• Causes of the Great Recession
• Government policies and the subprime mortgage crisis
• Incarceration in the United States

Further reading

• Doctorow, Cory (June 2, 2014). Matt Taibbi's The Divide: incandescent indictment of the American justice-gap. Boing Boing. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
• McEvers, Kelly. (April 6, 2014). In Book's Trial of U.S. Justice System, Wealth Gap is Exhibit A. All Things Considered. NPR.
• Emily Tess Katz (April 16, 2014). Matt Taibbi: America Has A 'Profound Hatred Of The Weak And The Poor'. The Huffington Post.
• Elias Isquith. (May 19, 2014). “It’s total moral surrender”: Matt Taibbi unloads on Wall Street, inequality and our broken justice system. Salon.com.

External links

• Q&A interview with Taibbi on The Divide, April 6, 2014, C-SPAN
• Presentation by Taibbi on The Divide, April 17, 2014, C-SPAN

Notes and References

1. Noah, Timothy. (April 10, 2014). The Justice Gap. The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
2. http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/4/14/read_matt_taibbi_on_the_divide READ: Matt Taibbi on "The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap"
3. Smith, Hendrick. (April 12, 2014). ‘The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap’ by Matt Taibbi. The Washington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
4. Ulin, David L. (March 27, 2014). Matt Taibbi rips into America's growing income gap in 'The Divide'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
5. Welch, Matt. (April 11, 2014). Book Review: 'The Divide' by Matt Taibbi. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 16, 2014.