The Fifth Risk cover art

The Fifth Risk

Undoing Democracy

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis, read by Victor Bevine.

The morning after Trump was elected president, the people who ran the US Department of Energy - an agency that deals with some of the most powerful risks facing humanity - waited to welcome the incoming administration's transition team. Nobody appeared. Across the US government, the same thing happened: nothing.

People don't notice when stuff goes right. That is the stuff government does. It manages everything that underpins our lives from funding free school meals, to policing rogue nuclear activity, to predicting extreme weather events. It steps in where private investment fears to tread, innovates and creates knowledge, assesses extreme long-term risk.

And now, government is under attack. By its own leaders.

In The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis reveals the combustible cocktail of wilful ignorance and venality that is fuelling the destruction of a country's fabric. All of this, Lewis shows, exposes America and the world to the biggest risk of all. It is what you never learned that might have saved you.

Audio updated in December 2019 to include a bonus afterword that the author has added in light of the recent turbulent political landscape in America.

©2018 Michael Lewis (P)2018 Penguin Audio Political Science Politics & Government Government

Critic reviews

Jaw-dropping ... genuinely stopped me in my tracks. (Stefano Hatfield)
Given that we now seem to be inhabiting a somewhat medieval world of plague and portent, I'd like to make the case for the prophetic powers of the US journalist Michael Lewis ... In December the notion [of the fifth risk] seemed wildly far-fetched. Four months on, it seems we will get the chance to find out if he was on the money. (Tim Adams)
All stars
Most relevant
An important subject. First few of chapters are good. However it then loses focus. There is also no real attempt to get the other side of the story, which is a shame.

So in summary it's good, but your disappointed that it didn't aim for great.

Important subject matter, but incomplete

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An analysis based on the incongruous. Lewis builds his case based upon the familiar, the indisputable. Just when you think you know what the department of agriculture does he pulls the rug from under you. Then he does it to you again and again. Eminently readable.. Look forward to being educated , amused and ultimately flabbergasted.

Fascinating interpretation of the status quo. REALLY?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An absolutely fascinating insight to the departments in the US government and the handover process (or lack thereof!), a real great listen.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've never read a book that gives a glimpse into the workings of government, US government, like this. To me it's always been this huge lumbering thing that is hard to quantify. This book just scratches the surface of what goes on in a couple of the departments of government and then drills down into the minutiae of a couple of internal departments of those. At this point I'm so glad I don't live in the US, in so many instances I feel like it is closer to self destruction than ever before. Really well written and I would love to see an updated version after the current term ends.

Fascinating and frightening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I like Michael Lewis' books. I had high hope for this one and the topic (administration) it covered. Sadly, I feel like it was a little one-sided and its intentions were clear from the start.

Light and a little one sided

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews