Ralph Nader ’55 has been many things in his five decades of public life — a consumer advocate, an environmental activist, a best-selling author of nonfiction, and a frequent presidential candidate. This month, he added “novelist” to the list. Nader’s fiction debut is a 733-page story of “practical utopia,” titled Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us, in which a cadre of wealthy individuals sets out to solve America’s problems, from big business to the federal government.
The novel, published by Seven Stories Press, has earned kudos from a few high-profile readers. Warren Beatty (in the book, a California gubernatorial candidate) said the story “shows us how good [Nader] thinks things could be,” and Princeton professor Cornel West *80 hailed the book’s “moral substance.” Ted Turner, one of the novel’s super-rich heroes, said he was happy to be included, according to the Washington Post.
Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation, told the Associated Press that he was skeptical about the chances of seeing Nader’s vision in the real world. “But Ralph is a prophet,” Navasky added. “He has been right about so many things the rest of us couldn’t imagine.”
(Photo courtesy Seven Stories Press)
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