Big Money by Ken Vogel

I have an active interest in US elections and particularly the amount of money that is now being spent in them thanks to the Citizens United ruling.

If you’re looking for a book that unveils the sheers scale of money being poured now into US politics there are few better books to read than Ken Vogels’ Big Money. Indeed, it’s only by following the money that you understand what motivates US political candidates, which makes it not just a book about elections, but one about the machinations of the entire political landscape.

I particularly enjoyed learning about the ‘Kochtopus’ as Vogel refers to it. The sprawling politic network funded by the Kock Brothers and their allies. I asked Vogel if he thought they could be the precursor to new parties forming on the right. What I didn’t expect was us to end up having a phone call about it! Not only a good writer, but clearly a nice guy too.