Guide to Jane Mayer’s Dark Money

By . IRB Media

PLEASE NOTE: This is a companion to Jane Mayer’s Dark Money and NOT the original book.

Preview:

Dark Money by Jane Mayer profiles the wealthy donors who have funded and established organizations to promote libertarian ideals, particularly the brothers Charles and David Koch. They and their two other brothers were raised by parents who promoted free-market capitalism and were suspicious of anything related or sympathetic to Communism.

Inside this companion:

• Overview of the book

• Important People

• Key Insights

• Analysis of Key Insights

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• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781945048234

. IRB Media

With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Overview

Dark Money by Jane Mayer profiles the wealthy donors who have funded and established organizations to promote libertarian ideals, particularly the brothers Charles and David Koch. They and their two other brothers were raised by parents who promoted free-market capitalism and were suspicious of anything related or sympathetic to Communism. The four Koch brothers inherited portions of their father’s oil business, and later Charles and David conspired to buy out their other brothers’ portions of the company.

Charles Koch began funding libertarian political events in the 1970s. In 1979, David Koch ran as the vice presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket. They were joined in efforts to establish and fund organizations, private foundations, and think tanks to support libertarian causes by other wealthy business people. They also collaborated to create and support capitalism-friendly curricula at US universities.

The Koch brothers and their colleagues disparaged government health and safety regulations while fighting against regulators who alleged that their businesses endangered employees’ lives through exposure to mercury, benzene, and other contaminants, resulting in million-dollar settlements.

The Koch foundations and their network of donation recipients increased in influence, and the groups they funded began contributing more money and advertising directly to political campaigns in 1986. Some of these connections link the Kochs’ network to the organizations that promoted the Tea Party movement in the late 2000s. They particularly pushed activists to adopt free-market positions