Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Media

“An idealistic, often stirring plan for revamping our responses to injustice.”

Koch sounds the call to fix the problems of the world by banding together. The author laments the fact that the many are exploited by the few and that “old and evil methods” stop people from thriving—he advocates “mutual care,” a solution “not just in some heady, moralizing theory, but in practical reality.” He describes the vectors of those old and evil methods, identifying the bullies and parasites who see people as fools to be tricked and fleeced. “Professionals plan and execute strategies,” he writes. “They pick victims in advance, plot what to steal and how, and minimize risk of capture.

”Setting his sights on predatory lending, spiraling drug costs, laws imposed on citizens without their consent, and even the rise of AI and other forms of reality-imitation, Koch lays out the extent and range of these evils, sometimes touching on current hot-button issues like immigration control. He points out that the term illegal alien is “a double smear” and reminds readers to rise above such divisive language. (“Let’s all stop, set aside the hot political rhetoric of our current moment, and try hard to remember who we are, and where we came from.”) The dark forces he describes turn their victims into slaves of one kind or other, but he stresses that oppression can strengthen the oppressed and that former slaves are “tillers of fertile soil… [who] plant, tend and grow the future of humanity.

”Some of Koch’s suggestions for securing that future may strike readers as surprising, particularly the foremost one: taxes. “We can and should determine how best to share and spend the taxing of ourselves,” he writes, “but clearly a common effort is required for common needs.” People under many governmental and economic systems (the author focuses on capitalism, also calling himself an avowed capitalist) are taught by those systems to mistrust any social solutions that sound like socialism, but “dismissing mutual care with scary words isn’t an argument,” Koch states; “it’s either ignorance or manipulation.

”The author maintains a strong, clear, optimistic tone throughout the book as he presents one possible remedy after another to the ills of the world. Readers wearied by the dismal news of the day might find much of this material unrealistically upbeat, but they’ll be encouraged nonetheless. “We need a hard reset on who we are, and who we allow to lead us,” Koch insists, stating that true leaders—empathetic leaders—sacrifice themselves to benefit others. (“The cooperative action they inspire yields far more than the forced labor of those who are exploited and under the lash.”) The author takes an unflinching look at the dishonesty of elected officials and the endless creativity of parasites waiting to drain your money, attention, and time; he acknowledges the painful “reality check” of the pervasiveness of bullying leaders and corruption in the world, and he provides concise but engaging historical vignettes of figures like Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, balancing these examples with those of honorable leaders who “genuinely believed in and advanced mutual care, rather than personal power and wealth.” Koch effectively manages the balance of harsh realities and forceful optimism throughout the book; he doesn’t sugarcoat the brutal contours of the world, but he does insist that fundamental change for the better is possible.

Kirkus Media

US Review of Books

Highlight review by Michael Radon

“In a lifeboat large enough for everyone, throwing others overboard and hoarding provisions does not prove your worthiness to be captain.”

Inequality persists in many forms in our society today, but dominating the headlines, the domestic and foreign policy debates, and even the household dinner table for virtually everyone is income inequality. This book examines how current systems allow the rich to get richer and prevent upward mobility for everyone except those with no one above them to profit from their work and station. Identifying everyone as belonging to one of three groups—bullies, parasites, or slaves—the author shows the number of ways people who are simply trying to sustain themselves or to provide a better future for their children are undercut by a myriad of institutions and figures designed to chip away at their gains and keep them in whatever position they were raised in.

However, in the second half of this examination, the author delves into how power still resides with the people, should they mobilize and choose to use it. These chapters contain actionable concepts that, if adopted, will create an opportunity for people to call out the predatory behavior of bullies and parasites and replace faulty methods with ones founded on community, care, and empathy. It may sound like a wide-eyed, optimistic view of the future, but each concept is introduced with firsthand accounts of how things work on a more individual scale, plenty of examples, and a roadmap that offers eventual solutions rather than just a destination with no idea of how to get there. This book is not intended to be merely a thought exercise or a theoretical exercise, but a real, collaborative way to end centuries of abuse for people of all locations and walks of life who are being taken advantage of by those who ordain themselves to have the power to do so on no other grounds.

The criticisms leveled at the exploitative, powerful forces keeping others from flourishing are not rooted in any particular political ideology or party affiliation, so readers are advised, from the opening pages, to set aside their feelings in that regard and focus on the larger issue. However, the actual position presented in both parts of the book isn’t especially inflammatory or radical, given its roots in creating a society where resources are used fairly to benefit everyone contributing to said society, and to exclude those who sit on the outside, bending the rules and creating loopholes to siphon away those resources for their own gain. To be sure, there is a force of opposition at work in the framework provided by the author, but it is not a specific group or ideology so much as a pervasive element that works its way into any power structure, across history and geography. One of the most interesting elements of this book is the way that it invites collaboration and further action from the reader, not just in the form of researching sources, but in its cry to take part in the conversation and become engaged. In so doing, its purpose of fighting inaction and making progress more tangible is realized, with readers seeing how they can create a more mutually caring exchange of support in their local sphere of influence. At the same time, any omissions or corrections that need to be recognized can influence the text itself, creating a kind of living community around the book that steers its ideas into regular practice. Odds are good that any reader picking up this book will be able to pinpoint the many ways their efforts toward self-sufficiency have been hamstrung by easily recognizable bullies and their decisions, so as divisive as the subject may be for many, by the end, it should be obvious where the enmity and the need for action should be directed.

Michael Radon · Recommended by the US Review

Midwest Book Review

The Social Issues Shelf, October 2025

“Original, unique, timely, exceptionally well written.”

Original, unique, timely, exceptionally well written, thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ in organization and presentation, “Bullies, Parasites and Slaves: Replacing Exploitation with Mutual Care” is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, highschool, and community library Contemporary Social Issues, Political Science, Leadership, Anti-Bullying, and Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections.

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review

George Koch is a gifted and engaging author who knows how to use stories and arguments to speak to the great (the greatest?) challenge of our time – the destructive impact of what he calls bullies and parasites. A bully takes advantage of others in the open while a parasite acts more in secret, often employing subtlety and deception. The ultimate result is the same in the end. The result is slavery, embraced in either ancient or modern forms. Koch argues that this slavery cycle must be broken but this cannot happen until we [see] how it is established.If your life and work subsidizes the abundance and power of modern oligarchs then you need this book. Simply put, this means that most of us need to understand what Koch has observed over the course of a lifetime. His perspective is unique because he has been a retail clerk, a janitor, a construction worker, an engineer, a magazine editor and a senior vice president at a nationally prominent company. With this unusual background Koch brings a deep non-sectarian wisdom to a problem that intersects with your life and mine. (He has also been a Christian minister but not the kind who uses faith to win every argument.)When we replace exploitation with mutual care then abundance is broadly shared. Koch calls this “mutual care.” Mutual care happens when we protect and help each other to thrive. All religions show how deep wisdom requires us to challenge all oppression. Christians believe this is done by what is called “The Golden Rule.” (This rule is found almost universally in every culture and faith.) Bullies can only be replaced by those who genuinely care for one another.Koch includes a glossary and website that adds a great deal more than could be included in the book. These features alone make this a highly useful tool for change. I sincerely hope readers will make use of this book to push back against the bullies and parasites that control so much of modern life in both our nation and cities.Get this book. Read it. Then dig deeper into the website material and be prepared to take action. This is not a book designed to simply aid your thinking. It requires serious action.

Dr. John Armstrong

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This thoughtful and well-researched book asks us to challenge and redefine many accepted concepts of leadership in politics, business, education and religion. At the same time, it proposes new paradigms to transform the present inequalities of contemporary society through the timeless concept of mutual care, better known as The Golden Rule.“Bullies” include those who steal from us through threat and harm, often camouflaged by tradition, dignified titles and unfair laws. “Parasites” are those who support bullies by stealth, hiding their theft through deception or numbing. “Slaves” are those who are exploited and either forced or coerced to accept the established order, and support those in power – whether actively or passively – politically, economically or socially.The author’s unique background as a janitor, retail clerk, construction worker, engineer, senior vice-president (at Oracle), philanthropist and pastor of a Christian church near Chicago for 31 years makes this book fascinating reading. His clear-eyed analysis of the extreme inequality in the USA (where the bottom half of households [66 million] held $4.1 trillion in assets by end of 2024, while 905 billionaires in the United States held a staggering $7.8 trillion in wealth) highlight the fact that the “slave” population subsidizes the “bullies” and “parasites” that control politics, the economy, health care, education, the media and organized religion through unjust laws, propaganda, manipulation and fear. One glaring statistic is in healthcare, where a CEO of a large health insurance company earns $23.5 million a year ($13,232 an hour) and enjoys gold-plated health insurance, while a typical retail worker earns between $7.25 and $15 an hour and struggles to pay for food and rent. Health insurance is out of the question, and is even becoming unaffordable for many members of America’s middle class. Plus, those who can afford health insurance are often told that their medical procedures and medications are not covered. Koch writes: “Denial of care is literal theft from those who need care. It is skimming, corporate stealing protected by jargon, lies propaganda and lobbyists.”The latter part of the book focuses on solutions that center on the concept of mutual care that has existed across faiths, philosophies and worldviews for millennia. The author challenges us to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” as an active principle rather than a passive idea. It is a command to do something to help others in need. The author offers a list of concrete strategies on how to attain this goal. The book also contains online resources that facilitate further research and individual and community action.Although well-written and non-preachy, this book does not always make comfortable reading. It is a much-needed wake-up call that challenges many accepted beliefs and offers practical solutions to transform both ourselves and human society.

Nathaniel Altman
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Koch has composed a sort of ‘manifesto’ for social change, urging a shift from individual survival in a rigged system to collective thriving through empathy and shared responsibility. Koch breaks down these concepts and exposes the deceptive reality that has riddled our society, creating a platform for necessary mutual care, to undo the harm of exploitation. Do you want to remain victim or access victory? Koch has the insight and solution! I strongly recommend this read for anyone!

Nadezhda

A sense of urgency runs through George Byron Koch’s Bullies, Parasites and Slaves. He calls out our contemporary culture of greed, stealthy theft, and unacknowledged slavery, and our need for a hard reset. He describes the problem and its solution in earthy terms as “instances of toxic mold discovered in your home.” We can take a swipe at the surface, but, as he says, “to eliminate the poison we must remove walls.”Koch writes with gritty, vivid images, and draws upon his own experiences (such as with schoolyard thugs and abusive cops) as well as historical figures both familiar (Genghis Khan) and unfamiliar (Queen Ranavalona). These illustrate the categories that he calls out in the title—bullies, who “take because they can”; parasites, who “take by stealth and deceit”; and their victims, the slaves, who “have their work, health, hopes, future and lives taken by bullies and parasites.”This book elaborates the three-fold nature of the problem, and offers a many-layered solution, based on a fundamental principle—mutual care. Koch does not pretend that enacting mutual care will be easy or simple: “[I]t will be long, hard work to undo the grip of those in power.” But learning to love and be love “works far better than the rule of bullies and parasites.”And mutual care needs to be enacted by good leadership, by effective supervision—by leaders to “see what is needed to accomplish a goal, and direct and coordinate the efforts of the people that [they] lead to reach that goal.”Koch presents a convincing picture of the fundamental ailments of our day and an equally convincing solution in a direct, witty, highly readable style. He doesn’t pretend that enacting mutual care will be easy, but “replacing exploitation with mutual care… is our call, our duty and our only real hope for the future.” And this book educates readers and inspires their hope.

Tom M
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Bullies, Parasites, and Slaves is a direct, uncomfortable look at power—who has it, who benefits from it, and who is harmed by it. George Koch’s writing is clear and focused, cutting through theory to show how control shows up in real life. It reminded me of Ta-Nehisi Coates in the way it feels personal and political at the same time. The book doesn’t try to comfort the reader or offer easy answers. Instead, it asks you to sit with hard truths about responsibility, history, and harm.
Anonymous
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The world is experiencing a leadership crisis. We need a vision that offers promise for the future of a humanity that is on the ropes. George Koch offers it here. By analyzing how ‘bullies’ and ‘parasites’ have reduced others to ‘slavery’ of all types, he takes us on a journey from corrosive exploitation toward the hopeful horizon of mutual care. Our dehumanized society, and trashed and trampled planet, cry out for a return to the simple profundity of the Golden Rule, and the search for the common good. Koch helps us find our way. Read this book if you are tired of being part of the problem, and now want to be part of the solution, helping to usher in a leadership revolution that can pave the way to hope.

Deacon Nate Bacon, InnerChange Regional Director for Central America and Mexico

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This is a powerful book, first exposing the mindsets and methods of bullies both from history and today. Some of the ways bullies work really made me consider some of my own methods of working and relating to others in ways that were not as helpful as I thought! One of the ideas in the book is to be able to clearly identify bullies and be able to help one another to transform our mindsets so that a loving and caring world can be considered a real possibility by all. Dr. Koch lays out some practical ways to strengthen this process throughout our own private lives, communities, and ultimately the world!

Jon H

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This book is an exegesis on courage & truth. It’s an important book for discussion. It clearly points out the manipulation and exploitation by those in authority, creating within humanity fear, confusion, abuse and suffering. The author offers an alternative to the exploitation of humanity, asking us to look at our relationships in terms of offering care and goodwill to others. And supporting leaders who have these same values – the care and well being of humanity. This is our freedom – caring for others. It is the responsible pathway to peace in our world.

Judith

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The author George Byron Koch is a man that I have known for many years. I have a deep respect for him as pastor, teacher, writer and friend. He has wisdom, intelligence, integrity and is honest and compassionate. The Book: Bullies Parasites And Slaves is a “must read”. Explains in great detail how to identify bullies, parasites and slaves. Helps to understand human exploitation and the imperative of mutual care. A real “eye opener” that takes place in our everyday lives by all of us! Pay attention and understand. Read the book and be part of the solution to mutual care for all.

Barbara Hausermann