A "brilliant" (The Washington Post), "clear-eyed and incisive" (The
New Republic) analysis of how the wealthiest group in American society
is making life miserable for everyone--including themselves.
In 21st-century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have
walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost
ground. What's left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9%
that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the
members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the
country--and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece
of the action in an increasingly unjust system.
They log insane hours at the office and then turn their leisure time
into an excuse for more career-building, even as they rely on an
underpaid servant class to power their economic success and satisfy
their personal needs. They have segregated themselves into zip codes
designed to exclude as many people as possible. They have made fitness a
national obsession even as swaths of the population lose healthcare and
grow sicker. They have created an unprecedented demand for admission to
elite schools and helped to fuel the dramatic cost of higher education.
They channel their political energy into symbolic conflicts over
identity in order to avoid acknowledging the economic roots of their
privilege. And they have created an ethos of "merit" to justify their
advantages. They are all around us. In fact, they are us--or what we
are supposed to want to be.
In this "captivating account" (Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling
Alone), Matthew Stewart argues that a new aristocracy is emerging in
American society and it is repeating the mistakes of history. It is
entrenching inequality, warping our culture, eroding democracy, and
transforming an abundant economy into a source of misery. He calls for a
regrounding of American culture and politics on a foundation closer to
the original promise of America.
