Each of them is one in a million. They number six thousand on a planet
of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the
powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and,
from the shadows, the world's most dangerous criminal and terrorist
organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the
history of our time.
Today's superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and
power. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group. But do
they have more in common with one another than with their own
countrymen, as nationalist critics have argued? They control
globalization more than anyone else. But has their influence fed the
growing economic and social inequity that divides the world? What
happens behind closeddoor meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at
41,000 feet? Conspiracy or collaboration? Deal-making or idle
self-indulgence? What does the rise of Asia and Latin America mean for
the conventional wisdom that shapes our destinies? Who sets the rules
for a group that operates beyond national laws?
Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews and extensive original
reporting, Superclass answers all of these questions and more. It
draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know
little about, even though it profoundly affects our everyday lives. It
is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global
communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on
the planet and control its greatest wealth. And it is an unprecedented
examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to
alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in
which we live.
