Every year, the Department of Global Health selects a Common Book to serve as a platform for our community of students, staff, and faculty to learn together on topics of common importance. We are happy to share that this year’s DGH Common Book, as voted on by members of the department, is: “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World” by Anand Giridharadas.  

In his book, former New York Times columnist Giridharadas investigates how the global elite’s philanthropic efforts to “change the world” preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. Learn more about the book.

Through reading and discussing this book, we will consider the consequences of relying on private giving to address systematic inequalities, as well as explore alternative solutions that have the power to build lasting global change.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Anand Giridharadas is a writer. He is an editor-at-large for TIME, an on-air political analyst for MSNBC, and a visiting scholar at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. He is a former columnist and correspondent for The New York Times, having written, most recently, the biweekly “Letter from America.” 

ACCESSING THE BOOK 

The UW Library has an e-book of Winner Takes All with unlimited users. For purchase, e-copies cost roughly $12 and paperback volumes cost about $16. E-copies are readily available for purchase online and we encourage you to utilize independent booksellers as much as possible. 

We invite everyone to join this community experience of digging into a Common Book together, and to engage in related discussions and activities throughout the school year.