AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! A young entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of American capitalism.
There’s a new invisible force at work in our economic and cultural lives. It affects every advertisement we see and every product we buy, from our morning coffee to a new pair of shoes. “Stakeholder capitalism” makes rosy promises of a better, more diverse, environmentally-friendly world, but in reality this ideology championed by America’s business and political leaders robs us of our money, our voice, and our identity.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He’s founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, he became a hedge fund partner in his 20s, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century.
The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, America’s elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we as Americans lack both.
This book not only rips back the curtain on the new corporatist agenda, it offers a better way forward. America’s elites may want to sort us into demographic boxes, but we don’t have to stay there. Woke, Inc. begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be an American in 2021—a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.
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"In a world where many fear to say what they think, Vivek courageously attacks the hypocrisy of corporations and their managements...his speaking truth to power will elevate this important discussion and advance our understanding of the heretofore not-to-be-discussed risks of stakeholder capitalism. I strongly recommend you give this book a careful read."
— Bill Ackman, Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management
“The single most informative and insightful analysis yet of woke ideology…Woke, Inc. is indispensable for understanding how America’s newest and most consequential cultural dogma is fundamentally transforming virtually every sector of our lives.”
— Glenn Greenwald, journalist, constitutional lawyer, and New York Times bestselling author“A provocative critique, wrapped in a gripping personal story that pulls you in from page one. Vivek Ramaswamy is breakthrough brilliant and arrestingly original. Woke, Inc. is essential reading for anyone who cares about America’s democracy, economy, and future.”
— Amy Chua, Yale law professor and New York Times bestselling author“This book is an essential weapon in the battle to reclaim America’s soul.”
— JD Vance, New York Times bestselling authorVivek Ramaswamy provides the single most informative and insightful analysis yet of woke ideology…Woke, Inc. is indispensable for understanding how America's newest and most consequential cultural dogma is fundamentally transforming virtually every sector of our lives.
— Glenn Greenwald, author of Securing DemocracyIn this engaging, brilliant book, Vivek Ramaswamy hits the nail on the head: companies go woke because they get richer from division rather than unity. This book is an essential weapon in the battle to reclaim America's soul.
— JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy and founder of Narya CapitalA provocative critique, wrapped in a gripping personal story that pulls you in from page one. Vivek Ramaswamy is breakthrough brilliant and arrestingly original. Woke, Inc. is essential reading for anyone who cares about America’s democracy, economy, and future.
— Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of NationsVivek Ramaswamy…offers a path back toward a more free and prosperous society.
— Arthur C. Brooks, professor, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and New York Times bestselling authorVivek Ramaswamy is an American business leader, New York Times bestselling author, and former top 2024 Republican US presidential candidate. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he went on to graduate summa cum laude in biology from Harvard and received his JD from Yale Law School, while working at a hedge fund. He then started a biotech company, Roivant Sciences, where he oversaw the development of five drugs that went on to become approved by the FDA. In 2022, he founded Strive, an Ohio-based asset management firm that directly competes with asset managers like BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, and others, who use the money of everyday citizens to advance environmental and social agendas that many citizens and capital owners disagree with.