For each of my books, I have reported on a particular universe, trying to tell its stories and secrets. This time, it was harder. I was reporting on the inner sanctums of wealth and power. Lips weren’t merely sealed. The lips had publicists.pic.twitter.com/ZD7BTzpxl5
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At last, I found brave people who’d talk. I wrote. Submitted. Titled it HIJACKED
Nope. The book doesn’t work, said my wise editor at @AAKnopf, Jon Segal. Take another pass. Needs more & deeper characters. My friend@caseygerald said, You’ve got to find the love in it.1 reply 6 retweets 45 likesShow this thread -
I chewed on that: find the love in it. I wanted to write a critique of how today’s winners, while gesturing at change-making, enable injustice. But I had to go deeper, see through their eyes. I had to learn, as another friend said, how decent people uphold an indecent system.
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Virtually every day for the last three years, I asked myself, Why are you doing this? Why anger people? Maybe try self-help? Why write something that wasn’t about the only thing people wanted to know about, Donald Trump (but that maybe, just maybe might help explain his rise)?
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A new manuscript gelled. I began to share it, including with those the book implicates. And this undammed more secrets. Too late for the book. But I became a confession booth for elites who, as
@gpetriglieri says, want to change the world but don’t want their world to change.pic.twitter.com/WJLxq9SMaY
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Bad news: It turns out I wasn’t saying anything they hadn’t thought in the shower. Good news: Their thoughts now existed in dry, written form for all to see.pic.twitter.com/mzHO0xl0aw
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Every day you write a book, you have a blank screen and a flickering cursor and the possibility of making magic or making a mess. And this book scared me more than the others. Honestly, the
@NYTimesBooks cover was the first time I didn’t feel afraid.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/books/review/winners-take-all-anand-giridharadas.amp.html …1 reply 14 retweets 92 likesShow this thread -
WINNERS TAKE ALL comes out Tuesday. Consider ordering it today if you wonder how we got into the present mess, how we get out of it, and how you can make a real impact.https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Take-All-Charade-Changing/dp/0451493249 …
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And heed the many morals of this long story: Tell the stories you burn to tell. Trust your editor. Write that second (or third) pass. Find the love in it. Believe in your weird dream.pic.twitter.com/aEeKPSP4Td
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Replying to @AnandWrites
I don't know you but my goal is to write a book before I shuffle off this mortal coil and you are inspiring me to get it done.
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Please promise me you will set aside three hours this week — and begin.
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