Who is Government?

A timely reminder of the quiet dedication and skill of the people who work every day to make this country work – Barack Obama * President Obama’s 2025 Summer Reads *This book rightly focuses on the quiet heroes who represent public service at its best… Musk’s demolition derby makes this kind of journalism feel, more than ever, like a civic duty… This eye-opening, multifaceted ode to public service therefore feels both urgent and moving – Dorian Lynskey * Guardian *A vivid and important collection of essays that corrects the caricatures and shows the value of public servants… these are vivid stories, identifying unusual and low-profile work requiring great levels of commitment and expertise… these stories refute the suggestion that the only role of public services is to correct markets… public services create good, even great, outcomes for society – Paschal Donohoe * The Irish Times *As a celebration of the quiet heroism of those whose painstaking work is being laidwaste by Elon Musk’s chainsaw, it’s powerful * The FT *

Michael Lewis’s global bestselling books lift the lid on the biggest stories of our times. They include Flash Boys, a game-changing expose of high-speed scamming; The Big Short, which was made into a hit Oscar-winning film; Liar’s Poker, the book that defined the excesses of the 1980s; and, most recently, The Fifth Risk, revealing what happens when democracy unravels. Michael Lewis was born in New Orleans and educated at Princeton University and the London School of Economics.