Anand Giridharadas

Anand Giridharadas isn’t afraid to bite the hand that offers him canapés, said

in NYMag.com. In 2015, the global-affairs journalist was named a fellow at the Aspen Institute, a think tank where corporate titans and thought leaders gather to discuss grand philanthropic projects. A few fellows selected each year are, by design, “a little renegade-y,” Giridharadas says. Still, he surprised fellow Aspen attendees that summer when he delivered a speech informing his listeners that they were perpetrating a sham. Though he hadn’t seen it instantly, he had come to realize that the big firms and fat cats that sponsored all the talk about improving the world were the same ones making life worse for countless millions. “It was a drip-drip-drip of moments where you thought, ‘Wait a second, why are we sitting in the Koch building? Why is this event funded by Monsanto, and by Pepsi, which seems to be changing the world by fattening kids?’”

Giridharadas’ new book, Winners Take All, extends the argument, said in Slate.com. The 36-year-old author wants readers to see that the elite’s charitable efforts distract us from the harm they do, and that their pet causes ask less of the rich than meaningful reforms would. Instead of national subsidized child care, we get Lean In–style corporate mentorship programs for women; instead of equitable funding in public education, we get charter schools. “The advantage of this kind of change is that it doesn’t cost the winners anything,” he says. But don’t expect Giridharadas to bring his fully realized argument to Aspen anytime soon. “It was made clear to me,” he says, “that I was not necessarily welcome back.”