Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism

by Sarah Wynn-Williams

A New York Times Notable Book. Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, The New Yorker, NPR, AP, The Economist, Slate, The Globe and Mail, Scientific American, and more!

“Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking...Not only does [Sarah Wynn-Williams] have the storytelling chops to unspool a gripping narrative; she also delivers the goods." -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

“When one of the world’s most powerful media companies tries to snuff out a book — amid other alarming attacks on free speech in America like this — it’s time to pull out all the stops.” –Ron Charles, The Washington Post

An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams's inside story puts you in the room during stumbling encounters with juntas through to the moment Mark Zuckerberg learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election and drew an unexpected conclusion. As she grapples with the reality of Facebook's influence on world events, she experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in” through it all.

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A profound, unflinching look at how technology and the people who control it increasingly shape our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.