About the Book

Your next-door neighbor offers to hook you up with free cable television. Or, when you unexpectedly owe hundreds of dollars in taxes, your accountant advises you to make up deductions, since "the IRS doesn't audit anyone." Do you do it?

David Callahan thinks many of us would. And we wouldn’t be alone. While there have always been those who cut corners, cheating has risen in the last two decades: corporate scandals, doping in sports, plagiarizing by journalists and students. Even ministers have been caught stealing sermons off the Internet. Why all the cheating? And why now?

Callahan pins the blame on the dog-eat-dog economic climate of the past twenty years. A harsh unfettered market and soaring income gaps have corroded our values, he argues, and threaten to corrupt the equal opportunity we cherish. What Callahan dubs “the Winning Class” has enough money and clout that it can cheat without consequences – while many in the Anxious Class believe that cheating is the only way to succeed in a winner-take-all world.

Through revealing interviews and extensive data, Callahan takes us on a gripping tour of cheating in America and makes a powerful case for why it matters. Lucidly written, scrupulously argued, The Cheating Culture is an important, original examination of the hidden costs of the boom years.

______________

Praise for The Cheating Culture

A damning and persuasive critique of America's new economic life. - Esquire

That Americans cheat more than they used to sounds like an impossible hypothesis to prove. And yet, Callahan's book is thick with convincing examples.

- Boston Globe

The reason to read this book is for his eye-opening portrait of the way we live now, his sobering analysis of how we got here and his prescient warning of where we may be headed if we don't get back our bearings.

- Los Angeles Times

Here, finally, a lucid explanation for why America seems on its way to becoming a nation of cheaters. Cheating begets more cheating, from our boardrooms to our classrooms. With verve and insight, Callahan shows that too many Americans feel the dice are already loaded, so they might as well give them an extra roll when no one's looking. His solutions are as provocative as his diagnosis. Buy this book (don't steal it) and take to heart its wisdom.

- Robert B. Reich

Author of The Future of Success and

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

More Reviews and Media

Key Points from

The Cheating Culture

Why MORE cheating?

	Today's inequality means bigger paychecks for winners and less security for everyone else. More people will do anything to succeed, starting from a young age.
	The new bottom-focus on profits and efficiency exerts pressures on people to cut corners at work.
	Government regulators don't have the resources to crack down on cheating, especially by the super wealthy.
	American values have changed since the 1970s. We have become more selfish, more focused on money, and more cutthroat.
	Cheating takes on a life of its own. People cheat because "everybody does it."

What can be done?

	We need to strengthen the government agencies that enforce the rules fair play, starting with the IRS and the SEC.
	Business must get serious about instilling ethics and move away from narrow bottom-line thinking.
	Schools and universities must have stronger honor codes and make a new commitment to teaching integrity and building character.
	We need to create a new social contract in America that fosters a sense of trust and fairness across U.S. society.