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Social Darwinists to tech bros: tracing the long fight against equality in US

The Guardian Tech Tuesday 21 July 2026, 10:00 UTC By Martin Pengelly 1 min read
Key Points

Historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s book Country of Lords looks back at the many men who have tried to fight against egalitarianism, from John Adams to Peter ThielThe historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s new book is published amid celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence and its truth “self-evident, that all men are created equal”. Country of Lords, however, is a history of Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America....

Historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s book Country of Lords looks back at the many men who have tried to fight against egalitarianism, from John Adams to Peter Thiel

The historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s new book is published amid celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence and its truth “self-evident, that all men are created equal”. Country of Lords, however, is a history of Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America.

Concise and hard-hitting, the book arrives at a time of glaring social and economic inequality, Phillips-Fein seeing Elon Musk “emerging as a trillionaire very much on people’s minds, with a deep level of discomfort, both fear and anger about what this portends”.

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US (LOCATION) Kim Phillips-Fein’s (PERSON) John Adams (PERSON) Peter (PERSON) Neo-Aristocrats (PERSON) Social Darwinists (ORG) Tech Utopians (ORG) the Long Fight Against Equality in America (ORG) Phillips-Fein (ORG) Elon Musk (PERSON)
Originally published by The Guardian Tech Read original →

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