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The Blind Spot
  • Published: 4 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241661826
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $59.99

The Blind Spot

How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies

Formats & editions
Hardback
4 Aug 2026
EBook
30 Apr 2026
Audiobook
30 Apr 2026
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A gripping and counterintuitive new account of oligarchy from ‘the most astute social scientist studying the phenomenon today’ (Guardian), which reveals how and why it has come to thrive in democracies everywhere

The wealthy and powerful few have dominated the many throughout most of human history. This is starkly visible now more than ever – today, the gulf between oligarchs and the average citizen is vastly larger than any gap that existed during European serfdom or the slave society of Imperial Rome. The strange thing is, for the first time in history, this domination is accomplished through democracy. Yet we aren’t in open revolt against the system. In fact, we keep voting to prop it up. Why?

In The Blind Spot, political scientist Jeffrey Winters delivers an urgent, incisive account of how we reached this era of in-your-face oligarchy, exposing how modern democracy was designed to protect the interests of the ultra-rich. Tracing the evolution of oligarchy through the democratic era, he demonstrates how the power of the wealthy isn’t just a flaw in our democracy, it was built into its very foundations. Now, in an extraordinary paradox, we exist in a state of ‘participatory inequality’: a world in which 99.99% of us participate openly and freely – democratically, even – in our own, ongoing economic exclusion.

But powerful change can begin when we have a clear understanding of where we are and where we deserve to be. As well as shining a light on just how bad our political reality has become, The Blind Spot introduces bold ideas for how we might shift the balance. Even though oligarchs may not cede power willingly, this period of shocking inequality is, Winters shows, an opportunity for lasting transformation.
  • Published: 4 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241661826
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $59.99
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Praise for The Blind Spot

No one knows more about the rise of oligarchy in America than Jeffrey Winters. Anyone concerned about the domination of democracy by the ultra-rich should read this damning book

Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Money

This book grips like a political thriller, warns like an alarm, and astonishes on every page. It’s not only one of most important books I’ve read in a long time, it’s also a real page-turner. After reading The Blind Spot, you'll never see democracy the same way again

Jonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life

This book is a game-changer. From the first sentence, Winters offers incisive insights about democracy’s capture by oligarchs that are both enlightening and frightening. Nearly every page offers a mic-drop revelation. If ever a book appeared at the right time and place, this is it

Brooke Harrington, author of Offshore

And now, when the oligarchs wield power that would make the old gods blush, Winters' book arrives, a work of fearful urgency

Yanis Varoufakis, bestselling author of Talking to My Daughter About the Economy

The Blind Spot is rigorously reported, with powerful facts and insights, all told with an engaging human touch about how we can create widespread prosperity by becoming a just and equitable society

David Cay Johnston