| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
221 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
Prologue: Lost in transition -- Tail risk -- People risk -- All the President's data. |
| Summary |
"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them. Michael Lewis takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. At Agriculture, the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it's not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do. Willful ignorance plays a role in these looming disasters. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gain without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing the cost. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it's better never to really understand those problems. But if there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes -- unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system: those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night. |
| Subject |
United States -- Politics and government -- 2017-2021.
|
|
Administrative agencies -- United States -- Management.
|
|
Administrative agencies. |
|
United States. |
|
Management. |
|
Government executives -- United States.
|
|
Government executives. |
|
Public administration -- United States.
|
|
Public administration. |
|
Civil service -- United States.
|
|
Civil service. |
|
Administrative agencies -- Management. |
|
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Energy Policy. |
|
United States -- Politics and government -- 2017- |
| Chronological Term |
Since 2017 |
| Genre/Form |
Nonfiction.
|
| Added Title |
5th risk |
| ISBN |
9781324002642 (hardcover) |
|
1324002646 (hardcover) |
| Standard No. |
40028527954 |
|
