The Idea Brokers - by James a Smith Paperback

Book Synopsis

From Simon & Schuster, The Idea Brokers is James A. Smith's exploration of think tanks and the rise of the new policy elite.

Tracing the rise of the think tank from the turn of the century to the present, historian Smith provides a portrait of this policy elite and concludes that "experts" have preempted the public debate by helping to remove complex issues from the ken of ordinary citizens.

From the Back Cover

Gulliver thought the professors were out of their senses when he visited the Grand Academy of Lagado on the Isle of Balnibarbi. He was bemused by their many improbable schemes--extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, constructing houses from the rood down, and training pigs to plow with their snouts. Yet however bold and inventive the various projects and their 'projectors' (as he termed the scientists were, there remained something troubling about his visit to the academy, something fundamentally deficient about the experts and their ideas.

About the Author

James A. Smith is the author of Idea Brokers, a Simon & Schuster book.