Podcast #165: Jane Mayer, Winner of the 2017 Bernstein Award

By NYPL Staff
May 23, 2017

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The New York Public Library is proud to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. This prestigious award is given annually to journalists whose books have brought clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies.

Today's episode features Jane Mayer, this year's winner. Her book is Dark Money: the the Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

Dark Money cover and photograph of author Jane Mayer

Photo by Stephen Voss.

Meredith Mann, Bernstein library review committee member, describes the book this way:

In Dark Money, the tenacious Jane Mayer slowly and comprehensively untangles the chaotic network of funding employed by the Koch brothers and their associates in support of their libertarian political agenda.  Over forty years of patient and persistent strategizing produced a robust network of endowed university departments, think tanks, lobbying groups, and "grassroots" organizations: a pipeline for the advancement of an economically far-right ideology worthy of any successful corporate business plan.  Mayer pieces together a story defined by its lack of paper trail, pushing for sources that occassionally push back (she details attempts to discredit her earlier investigations into the Kochs) in a work that is essential for a complete understanding of modern American politics.

Author Bio

Jane Mayer is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her reporting  has been awarded the John Chancellor Award, the George Polk Award, the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, and the I. F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence presented by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard. Mayer, who lives in Washington, D.C., covers politics, culture, and national security issues. Dark Money, the fourth of her bestselling and critically acclaimed narrative nonfiction books, is published by Doubleday.

Critical Reviews

"...[A] persuasive, timely and necessary story of the Koch brothers’ empire." — The New York Times

"...Dark Money — a detailed accounting of [the Koch brothers'] rise and rise — is absolutely necessary reading for anyone who wants to make sense of our politics. Lay aside the endless punditry about Donald’s belligerence or Hillary’s ambition; Mayer is telling the epic story of America in our time. It is a triumph of investigative reporting." — The New York Review of Books

"A valuable contribution to the study of modern electoral politics in an age that Theodore White, and perhaps even Hunter S. Thompson, would not recognize." — Kirkus Reviews

Deeper Dive

The 2017 winner will be announced on May 22. Check out more of our #Bernstein30 coverage, find a complete list of prior winners, and learn more about the process on the official site.

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Meredith Mann is a member of the 2016 committee of librarians that selects the five finalists for the Bernstein Award. Mann is a specialist in the Manuscripts & Archives Division. 

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