David Gibbs – författare

Inequality in the United States has reached staggering proportions, with a massive share of wealth held by the very richest. How was such a dramatic shift in favor of a narrow elite possible in a democratic society? 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.Drawing on extensive archival research, Gibbs examines how elites established broad coalitions that brought together business conservatives, social traditionalists, and militarists. At the very top, Richard Nixon’s administration quietly urged corporate executives to fund conservative think tanks and seeded federal agencies with free-market economists. Even Jimmy Carter’s ostensibly liberal administration brought deregulation to the financial sector along with the imposition of severe austerity measures that hurt the living standards of the working class. Through a potent influence campaign, academics and intellectuals sold laissez-faire to policy makers and the public, justifying choices to deregulate industry, cut social spending, curb organized labor, and offshore jobs, alongside expanding military interventions overseas.Shedding new light on the political alliances and policy decisions that tilted the playing field toward the ultrawealthy, Revolt of the Rich unveils the origins of today’s stark disparities.

Inequality in the United States has reached staggering proportions, with a massive share of wealth held by the very richest. How was such a dramatic shift in favor of a narrow elite possible in a democratic society? 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.Drawing on extensive archival research, Gibbs examines how elites established broad coalitions that brought together business conservatives, social traditionalists, and militarists. At the very top, Richard Nixon’s administration quietly urged corporate executives to fund conservative think tanks and seeded federal agencies with free-market economists. Even Jimmy Carter’s ostensibly liberal administration brought deregulation to the financial sector along with the imposition of severe austerity measures that hurt the living standards of the working class. Through a potent influence campaign, academics and intellectuals sold laissez-faire to policy makers and the public, justifying choices to deregulate industry, cut social spending, curb organized labor, and offshore jobs, alongside expanding military interventions overseas.Shedding new light on the political alliances and policy decisions that tilted the playing field toward the ultrawealthy, Revolt of the Rich unveils the origins of today’s stark disparities.

This book focuses upon the potential to integrate economic and environmental policies at the local and regional scale. Local initiatives are investigated within their wider economic and environmental policy contexts in order to illustrate both the constraints and opportunities for local policy makers. Attention is given to global economic trends, as well as to the specific policy contexts of the European Union and the national contexts of the UK, USA, Australia, Japan and Sweden. The key principles for designing integrative policies and descriptions of initiatives and projects in a variety of locations are also considered.

Government Policy and Industrial Change (1989) seeks to take stock of the recent changes in policy issues in the UK and USA – de-industrialisation, internationalisation, technological change – and investigates in particular four areas at the cutting edge of policy change. It looks at the impact of new technology, the role of small firms, the service sector, and the increase in private-sector-led initiatives at the local level.

Sustainability--with its promise of economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental integrity--is hardly a controversial goal. Yet scholars have generally overlooked the ways that policies aimed at promoting sustainability at local, national, and global scales have been shaped and constrained by capitalist social relations. This thought-provoking book reexamines sustainability conceptually and as it actually exists on the ground, with a particular focus on Western European and North American urban contexts. Topics include critical theoretical engagements with the concept of sustainability; how sustainability projects map onto contemporary urban politics and social justice movements; the spatial politics of conservation planning and resource use; and what progressive sustainability practices in the context of neoliberalism might look like.

A reissue of a cult design book about Nova, the groundbreaking British magazine of the 60s and 70s, with a new introduction.Nova 1965–1975 celebrates one of the most influential magazines in history. Known as ‘the thinking woman’s magazine’ Nova was a British publication that set itself apart from its contemporaries by creating a magazine that was not just about fashion but was also politically, socially and sexually aware. The magazine covered issues that were controversial at the time, such as abortion, racism, gay rights and The Pill, and featured writers such as Susan Sontag, Harold Pinter, Elizabeth David, Prue Leith, William Trevor, Christopher Booker and Graham Greene. The book is compiled by David Hillman and Harri Peccinotti, who worked as Art Directors on the magazine. The design and layout of the magazine were as groundbreaking as the content, and borrowed ideas from the psychedelic subculture and underground press of the day. Nova was one of the first magazines to include black models in their photoshoots, and regular photographers for the magazine included Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Terence Donovan, Don McCullin, Bob Richards and Diane Arbus.The book selects the best covers and articles from the magazine’s decade-long output and looks at them in detail, featuring many of the iconic magazine covers.

This volume is dedicated to the field identification of pigeons and doves, and it incorporates much recent information on the family.Pigeons and doves are a large family of birds occurring throughout the world. Many species are specialist frugivores, while others feed on seeds. Most are arboral and the tropical species in particular are often brightly coloured.The family includes gregarious migratory species, as well as shy, ground-dwelling forms such as the exotic crowned pigeons of New Guinea.