A four-volume record of how the American middle class was dismantled.
Crown and Lantern Books publishes The Oligarchs’ Arithmetic of Plunder by Leslie St. James, a forensic history built from regulatory filings, court documents, financial disclosures and published reporting. Volume I was published on 31 May 2026.
The series
| I | The Worker How the wins of the New Deal era were dismantled, and where the costs settled. Published 31 May 2026. |
| II | The Citizen The vote and the capacity to govern. In preparation. |
| III | The Chattel Republic The state as an instrument of foreign-obligated wealth. In preparation. |
| IV | The Serf The terminal condition, in which consent is unnecessary because exit is impossible. In preparation. |
The author
Leslie St. James writes on political economy, labor history and the mechanics of concentrated wealth. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an MS in computer engineering from the University of Southern California, and spent his working years in the technology industry, at investment banks and at investment research firms. The account comes from inside the firms and markets it examines rather than from the academy or the policy networks that usually narrate these subjects.
He is a member of the Organization of American Historians. He can be reached directly at stjames.leslie@gmail.com.
Enquiries
Review copies, rights and permissions, and library or course enquiries go to the press at contact@crownandlanternbooks.com. The author can be reached at stjames.leslie@gmail.com.