The Invisible Doctrine. The Secret History of Neoliberalism
Part of the what I'm reading series...
Just for a moment… stop.
Let your eyes rest here.
There is a book — a quietly powerful one — by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison. It is not shouty, no, but it doesn't need to be. Because if you've ever felt it — that insidious grasp of power consolidating, reshaping lives, turning you in a vice, warping democracy — then this book won't surprise you. It will validate what you always knew deep down.
I felt it myself in secondary school… maybe you did too. That moment when something didn't feel right. When the world around you began to whisper that the story you were told… wasn't the complete truth.
It's 2024 now. The budget says one thing. The increasing anger says another. And behind both of them? Quiet hands. Invisible patrons. Those who fund the think tanks, spin the headlines, and make policy without transparency.
The photos below? They're from a chapter that speaks plainly.
Not with rage, but with honesty.
Not with drama, but with fact.
If something stirs within you — a curiosity, a gentle tug — pursue it. The sources are listed below. Let them speak. Let them ripple through you.
And if the time is right, subscribe. Or don't. No pressure.
Just follow what feels right for you.
Have a beautiful day.
“The men who sold the war”, 18 May 2004, UK Channel 4.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. “Edward Bernays”, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Bernays.
Tobacco Control, “Tobacco industry quotes on marketing to kids”, https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/10/1/e8.
Big Tobacco funded 1980s think tanks: https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/docs/psny0120.
“Myths and Facts about Koch Industries”, Koch Industries website.
“Charles Koch and the Kochtopus”, SourceWatch.
“Charles Koch's Biography”, Koch Industries website.
Robert Draper, “Covert operations”, The New Yorker, 30 August 2010, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations.
Bill McKibben, “The Koch Brothers’ grim environmental legacy”, Yale Environment 360, 6 March 2016.
“My life’s work has been to advance liberty”, Charles Koch, 2016, https://www.charleskochfoundation.org/news/my-lifes-work-has-been-to-advance-liberty.
“The Koch brothers' political machine”, The Washington Post, 2014.
“Top 10 recipients of Koch Industries campaign contributions”, OpenSecrets.org.
“Charles Koch’s political networks”, Center for Responsive Politics.
“Charles Koch’s biography”, Koch Industries website.
“Kochland: The secret history of Koch Industries and corporate power in America”, Christopher Leonard (Simon & Schuster, 2019).
Jane Mayer, “Dark money”, Doubleday, 2016.
“The Heritage Foundation’s climate change denial”, DeSmog, https://www.desmogblog.com
.
Michael Gerson, “The conservative mind”, Washington Post, 27 April 2007.
“Heartland Institute: About”, https://www.heartland.org/about-us/index.html.
“Conservatives and climate change”, Yale Climate Connections.
Lily Geismer, “What does the left get wrong about the right?”, The Washington Post, 2021.
“The Data Challenge”, eds. Tom Cronin and Marc Hetherington, 2019.
“The Heritage Foundation: Political influence”, InfluenceWatch.
Lily Geismer, “Democrats and Neoliberalism”, Vox, 11 June 2019, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/11/18660204/democrats-neoliberalism.
Robert Draper, “Covert operations”, The New Yorker, 30 August 2010.
Best,
LJ
If you found this helpful, you’ll love what’s behind the paywall.
Become a paid subscriber for £5/month and unlock exclusive essays, how-tos, toolkits, and intimate reflections to support your creative and neurodivergent self in a demanding world.
Click Subscribe and choose the paid option — your support keeps this work going.