Overview

A critical look at how Bill Gates uses his wealth and power through the Gates Foundation to advance his own agenda and erode democratic institutions in the process. You know him as the founder of Microsoft; the philanthropic, kind-hearted billionaire who has donated endless funds to good causes around the world. But there's another side to Bill Gates. In this fearless, groundbreaking investigation, Tim Schwab offers readers a counter-narrative, one where Gates has used his monopolistic approach in business to amass a stunning level of control over public policy, scientific research and the news media. Whether he is pushing new educational standards in America, health reforms in India or industrialized agriculture in Africa, Gates's unbridled social experimentation has shown itself to be not only undemocratic, but also ineffective. All of which begs the question- why should the super rich be able to transform their wealth into political power, and just how far can they go?

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Reviews

Investigative journalism with a fierce polemical edge … Nobody who comes away from reading The Bill Gates Problem will look at him in the same way. * The Times * An extraordinary and detailed work of investigative journalism into an underexplored nexus of influence in global affairs. * The Telegraph * A tale of frustration and even rage at the culture of secrecy and often incompetence inside Gates’s philanthropic world, it is also strangely heartening. * New Statesman * Tim Schwab has written the definitive critique of Bill Gates as bully-philanthropist. Schwab uses the case of Gates to tell a compelling and carefully researched story that raises disturbing questions about the lack of accountability of power-philanthropy. * Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect * This is not the story of one bad man, so much as a demonstration of the inability for anyone-no matter how smart or rich-to solve the world's problems from the top down with money and technology. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Survival of the Richest * In this incisive and penetrating book, Schwab dares to confront a question society has long ignored: should a secretive, unaccountable billionaire dictate policy in public health, education, and science? Fearlessly rendered and much-needed. * Sonia Shah, author of The Next Great Migration * Tim Schwab follows the money to expose what happens when one man-however intelligent or well-intentioned-amasses so much wealth and so much power, he can literally dictate to governments around the world. With great skill-and given the range of Bill Gates's influence, considerable courage-Schwab pulls back the curtain to deliver a classic of muckraking journalism. * D. D. Guttenplan, editor, The Nation * [An] excellent exposé of hyper-billionaire ‘myths’ * Nature *

Investigative journalism with a fierce polemical edge … Nobody who comes away from reading The Bill Gates Problem will look at him in the same way. * The Times * A tale of frustration and even rage at the culture of secrecy and often incompetence inside Gates’s philanthropic world, it is also strangely heartening. * New Statesman * Tim Schwab has written the definitive critique of Bill Gates as bully-philanthropist. Schwab uses the case of Gates to tell a compelling and carefully researched story that raises disturbing questions about the lack of accountability of power-philanthropy. * Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect * This is not the story of one bad man, so much as a demonstration of the inability for anyone-no matter how smart or rich-to solve the world's problems from the top down with money and technology. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Survival of the Richest * In this incisive and penetrating book, Schwab dares to confront a question society has long ignored: should a secretive, unaccountable billionaire dictate policy in public health, education, and science? Fearlessly rendered and much-needed. * Sonia Shah, author of The Next Great Migration * Tim Schwab follows the money to expose what happens when one man-however intelligent or well-intentioned-amasses so much wealth and so much power, he can literally dictate to governments around the world. With great skill-and given the range of Bill Gates's influence, considerable courage-Schwab pulls back the curtain to deliver a classic of muckraking journalism. * D. D. Guttenplan, editor, The Nation * An extraordinary and detailed work of investigative journalism into an underexplored nexus of influence in global affairs. * The Telegraph * [An] excellent exposé of hyper-billionaire ‘myths’ * Nature *

A tale of frustration and even rage at the culture of secrecy and often incompetence inside Gates’s philanthropic world, it is also strangely heartening. * New Statesman * [An] excellent exposé of hyper-billionaire ‘myths’ * Nature * Tim Schwab has written the definitive critique of Bill Gates as bully-philanthropist. Schwab uses the case of Gates to tell a compelling and carefully researched story that raises disturbing questions about the lack of accountability of power-philanthropy. * Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect * In this incisive and penetrating book, Schwab dares to confront a question society has long ignored: should a secretive, unaccountable billionaire dictate policy in public health, education, and science? Fearlessly rendered and much-needed. * Sonia Shah, author of The Next Great Migration * This is not the story of one bad man, so much as a demonstration of the inability for anyone-no matter how smart or rich-to solve the world's problems from the top down with money and technology. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Survival of the Richest * An extraordinary and detailed work of investigative journalism into an underexplored nexus of influence in global affairs. * The Telegraph * Tim Schwab follows the money to expose what happens when one man-however intelligent or well-intentioned-amasses so much wealth and so much power, he can literally dictate to governments around the world. With great skill-and given the range of Bill Gates's influence, considerable courage-Schwab pulls back the curtain to deliver a classic of muckraking journalism. * D. D. Guttenplan, editor, The Nation * Read it and learn the brutal truth: there is nothing altruistic about the world’s favorite billionaire. * Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas * Investigative journalism with a fierce polemical edge … Nobody who comes away from reading The Bill Gates Problem will look at him in the same way. * The Times *

"Investigative journalism with a fierce polemical edge … Nobody who comes away from reading The Bill Gates Problem will look at him in the same way. * The Times * Tim Schwab has written the definitive critique of Bill Gates as bully-philanthropist. Schwab uses the case of Gates to tell a compelling and carefully researched story that raises disturbing questions about the lack of accountability of power-philanthropy. * Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect * This is not the story of one bad man, so much as a demonstration of the inability for anyone-no matter how smart or rich-to solve the world's problems from the top down with money and technology. As this well-argued and immensely engaging account of Bill Gates's forays into world-saving by fiat make clear, the problem with Big Philanthropy is the Big Hubris that comes along with it.This is not the story of one bad man, so much as a demonstration of the inability for anyone-no matter how smart or rich-to solve the world's problems from the top down with money and technology. As this well-argued and immensely engaging account of Bill Gates's forays into world-saving by fiat make clear, the problem with Big Philanthropy is the Big Hubris that comes along with it. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Survival of the Richest * In this incisive and penetrating book, Schwab dares to confront a question society has long ignored: should a secretive, unaccountable billionaire dictate policy in public health, education, and science? Fearlessly rendered and much-needed. * Sonia Shah, author of The Next Great Migration * Tim Schwab follows the money to expose what happens when one man-however intelligent or well-intentioned-amasses so much wealth and so much power, he can literally dictate to governments around the world. With great skill-and given the range of Bill Gates's influence, considerable courage-Schwab pulls back the curtain to deliver a classic of muckraking journalism. * D. D. Guttenplan, editor, The Nation * The author argues convincingly that “the Gates Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-privileged charity that is acting like a private equity investor, venture capital fund, or a pharmaceutical company""... An eye-opening look at the use of tax-subsidized money by private philanthropy * Kirkus * A tale of frustration and even rage at the culture of secrecy and often incompetence inside Gates’s philanthropic world, it is also strangely heartening. * New Statesman *"

Author Information

Tim Schwab is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. His 2019 investigation into the Gates Foundation won multiple awards, including an Izzy from the Park Center for Independent Media and a Deadline Club Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and was nominated for a Pulitzer prize by The Nation newspaper. His reporting on Gates has appeared in The Nation, the Columbia Journalism Review and the British Medical Journal, and represents some of the only investigative journalism ever published on Gates. Earlier in his career, Tim worked as a journalist for two daily newspapers and as a researcher for the watchdog group Food & Water Watch.

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