Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman say we're coddling a tiny minority of ultra-rich" Americans, and they'd like to put a stop to it. "The Triumph of Injustice" demonstrates how small sets of wealthy, white, well-connected citizens command inordinate financial and political clout. This, it seems, is the season for such books. Investigative reporter Aaron Glantz's "Homewreckers" focuses on billionaires who cash in when the middle class struggles. Anne Nelson's "Shadow Network" is about a coterie of influential far-right operatives. Taken together, these smart, engrossing titles paint a stark picture of the power wielded by a handful of plutocrats and religious hard-liners. There's always been economic inequality, but it's worse today than just decades ago. According to Saez and Zucman, America's richest 1% own 37% of the nation's wealth ("housing, pension funds, and all financial assets"), up from 22% at the end of the 1970s. "Conversely, the wealth share of the bottom 90% of adults has declined from 40% to 27%." Counting all forms of taxation, Saez and Zucman say that the great majority of Americans pay 25% to 30% of their income in taxes into the public coffers. By contrast, America's 400 richest people "barely pay 20%." This disparity is the result of many factors. These include ... access to "offshore bank accounts, exotic trusts (and) hidden shell corporations," Saez and Zucman write. Corporations use similar tactics. Facebook, for one, "has dodged billions in corporate taxes" by establishing a presence in the Cayman Islands.