Who is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service

(Hardback)

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Who works for the government and why does their work matter An urgent and absorbing journey into a hidden world from an all-star team of writers and storytellers The government is a vast, complex system that citizens pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It's also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it's made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone. Michael Lewis invited his favourite writers to find someone doing an interesting job for the government and write about them in a special in-depth series for the Washington Post. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees. Whether they're digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters.

Reviews

Praise for The Fifth Risk * - *
Riveting, jaw-dropping, stranger and more terrifying than fiction * Daily Telegraph *
Life is what happens between Michael Lewis books. I forgot to breathe while reading The Fifth Risk' Michael Hofmann * TLS, Books of the Year *
Stunning -- Josh Glancy * Sunday Times *
The characters are riveting, and the drama intense ... paints a picture of America being not just pulled apart at the political seams, but in the very fabric of the government itself -- Harriet Alexander * Daily Telegraph *
Readable and compelling ... a horrific catalogue of all the things that can go wrong if a government takes its eye off the ball ... We should all be frightened -- Brooke Masters * Financial Times *
Exciting, entertaining, darkly funny -- Jennifer Szalai * The New York Times *

Author Bio

Michael Lewis (External Editor) Michael Lewis's global bestselling books lift the lid on the biggest stories of our times. They include Flash Boys, a game-changing expose of high-speed scamming; The Big Short, which was made into a hit Oscar-winning film; Liar's Poker, the book that defined the excesses of the 1980s; and, most recently, The Fifth Risk, revealing what happens when democracy unravels. Michael Lewis was born in New Orleans and educated at Princeton University and the London School of Economics.