The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America

by John Fabian Witt

From Pulitzer Prize finalist John Fabian Witt comes a captivating secret history of the Garland Fund, which shaped the course of American history by financing wildly innovative struggles for economic, racial, and democratic liberation.

In 1922, Charles Garland, a young idealist, rejected a million-dollar inheritance, opting instead to invest in a future where radical ideas like economic equality and social justice could flourish. Over the next two decades, the Garland Fund, though dwarfed by the charitable foundations of industrial titans like Carnegie and Rockefeller, would become a crucible for progressive thought.

The men and women of the Garland Fund cooperated and they bickered, they competed and (at least once) formed romantic connections. Shared beliefs, however, linked them throughout. They believed that American capitalism was broken. They believed that American democracy, if it had ever existed, disserved those who had the least. And they believed that American institutions needed to be radically remade for the modern age.

By the time they exhausted the Fund’s resources, they had succeeded in turning their once radical ideas—ideas like free speech, working class empowerment, and desegregation—into guiding principles for American life.

The Radical Fund is not just a historical account; it is a testament to the power of visionary organizations, a meditation on the vexed role of money in an age of robber barons and vast fortunes, and a hopeful book for anxious times. Witt’s sweeping, luminous narrative provides a road map for how people with heretical ideas can bring about audacious change.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Economics, American History, Audiobook

736 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America by John Fabian Witt

Overview
John Fabian Witt’s The Radical Fund is a groundbreaking exploration of the Garland Fund, a transformative but often overlooked force in 20th-century American activism. With meticulous research and compelling narrative flair, Witt—a Pulitzer Prize finalist and esteemed legal historian—uncovers how a modest million-dollar trust became a financial engine for radical social change, fueling movements from labor rights to civil liberties. The book masterfully bridges institutional history and human drama, revealing how strategic philanthropy shaped the course of American progress.

Themes and Analysis

Witt’s work excels in several key areas:

-Hidden Histories: The book unearths the Garland Fund’s clandestine role in bankrolling pivotal causes, challenging conventional narratives about social change.
-Strategy and Impact: Witt dissects how funds were deployed to support litigation (e.g., early NAACP cases) and grassroots organizing, offering fresh insights into activism’s mechanics.
-Biographical Depth: Vivid portraits of donors, lawyers, and radicals illuminate the tensions between idealism and pragmatism.
-Modern Parallels: While rooted in history, the book implicitly critiques contemporary philanthropy’s risk-aversion, celebrating the Garland Fund’s bold, experimental approach.

Writing and Structure
Witt’s prose is scholarly yet accessible, balancing legal analysis with gripping storytelling. A chronological framework, punctuated by thematic deep dives, ensures clarity without oversimplification. Minor repetitions (e.g., reiterating the fund’s “radical” ethos) occasionally slow momentum but do not detract from the book’s overall power.

Strengths and Critiques

Strengths:

-Original Scholarship: Witt fills a critical gap in legal and activist history with rigorous archival work.
-Narrative Brilliance: The storytelling rivals popular history, engaging both academics and general readers.
-Interdisciplinary Appeal: Bridges law, history, and political science with authority.

Critiques:

-Niche Moments: Some passages assume familiarity with legal history, potentially alienating casual readers.
-Domestic Focus: The fund’s U.S.-centric story leaves room for future work on global parallels.

How I would describe this book:

- A revelatory page-turner about the million-dollar trust that quietly fueled America’s most radical movements.
- Witt masterfully uncovers how money, strategy, and idealism collide to remake the world.
- Essential reading for anyone who believes in the power of strategic philanthropy—and the rebels who wield it.

Audience
Ideal for scholars of legal history, social movements, and political science, as well as activists and readers passionate about the levers of change.

Final Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)
A triumph of historical excavation and narrative verve—proof that the right resources in the right hands can upend the status quo.

Acknowledgments
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing an advance review copy. Witt’s work is a vital contribution to the history of activism, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to engage with its insights.

[Micheal D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Radical Fund is a sweeping, electrifying history of visionaries who dared to challenge the American dream and remake it. John Fabian Witt unearths the story of the Garland Fund with the precision of a historian and the passion of a storyteller, revealing how one million dollars in rebellious philanthropy helped seed the principles of free speech, labor rights, and racial justice that shape modern democracy.

This isn’t just a book about money, it’s about conviction. Witt’s vivid portraits of the fund’s founders and their radical allies read like a tapestry of courage and contradiction. Every chapter pulses with the urgency of change, reminding readers that progress often begins at the margins, funded by faith in a better world.

Perfect for readers of Jill Lepore, Erik Larson, or The Warmth of Other Suns, The Radical Fund is both history and prophecy,a mirror to the ideals we’ve inherited and the courage it takes to transform them.

[Brina Harden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witt does an incredible job unearthing the history of the incredibly influential yet little-known Garland Fund, which fueled some of the nation’s most important movements, including the NAACP’s segregation litigation campaign and the ACLU’s early activism. The book is meticulously researched and offers important lessons about how reform actually happens—often more slowly than we expect and in ways that diverge from our original plans or expectations.

[Shannon Heaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive summary of the lives changed by one man's inheritance, which he did not want for himself, and how the money spent changed America. Interesting that the country became better for it, while the man himself, not nearly so much.

[JennXReviews (Jennice) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Simon and Schuster as part of the History Buffs Book Club.
The Radical Fund is an in-depth examination of the Garland Fund. This fund contributed to the civil rights and labor movements. As a person raised in the South, this was really interesting and informative as I grew up seeing the names A.Phillip Randolph, James Weldon Johnson, and W.E. DuBois on streets and schools, but had no idea who they were (they didn't teach about the civil rights movements or who the streets were named after in the "black parts of town". It's amazing how a fund started with an unwanted inheritance was able to help contribute to groups that changed the country.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the civil rights and labor movements, as well as the individuals who helped shape these movements.
I don't normally mark up/highlight/annotate books, but this one is an exception. I put tabs in it and marked it up because it was that interesting.