The Kochs’ fortune has allowed them to control much about their world, unfortunately they can’t hide the complete truth about their history and agenda. Out next week, a new book on the Kochs by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, Dark Money, is already picking up praise in a new review.

The New York Times calls the book “a persuasive, timely and necessary story of the Koch brothers’ empire.“ Here are some of our favorite highlights from the review:

• The Kochs’ first and foremost interest is in their own bottom line. They’ve manipulated the Republican Party for their benefit
• “To protect their investments in coal and oil pipelines and refineries (somewhat pared down in the last decade), the Koch brothers have, Ms. Mayer points out, funded think tanks committed to raising doubt about climate change. They have also spent tens of millions of dollars to roll back environmental regulations and defund or abolish the federal agencies that write and enforce them.”

• In the 1970s, following their father’s lead, “Charles Koch ‘began planning a movement that could sweep the country.’  His declared goal? Nothing less than destroying what he referred to as ‘the prevalent statist paradigm.'”

• Shortly after Charles, David joined him in politics and they used their wealth to persuade the Libertarians to let them run their 1980 race.
  • “The 1980 platform of the Libertarian Party, to which the Koch brothers provided financial support and on which David Koch ran for vice president, offered a preview of their anti-government zealotry. The Libertarians opposed federal income and capital gains taxes. They called for the repeal of campaign finance laws; they favored the abolition of Medicaid and Medicare and advocated the abolition of Social Security and the elimination of the Federal Election Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. ‘The platform was, in short,’ Ms. Mayer concludes, ‘an effort to repeal virtually every major political reform passed during the 20th century.'” Sound familiar? Many of those items are still on the Kochs’ agenda today.

• After the Libertarian Party was badly beaten by Ronald Reagan in 1980, the Kochs were not dissuaded.
• “As Ms. Mayer notes, the Kochs, instead of accepting the voters’ verdict, chose to spend money changing the way Americans voted. ‘During the next three decades,’ Ms. Mayer writes, ‘they contributed well over $100 million, much of it undisclosed, to dozens of seemingly independent organizations aimed at advancing their radical ideas.'”

• Since then they have grown their political operation into what it is today.
• “For more than a decade, they have organized donor summits to which they have invited like-minded billionaires, political consultants, media celebrities and elected officials. At these meetings, plans are made, issues chosen, money raised, donations pooled, spending coordinated for the next election cycles.”