The Rich And The Super Rich

In the late 1930s bombshell of a book appeared which told the story of the lords of wealth and their glittering clans. It was called AMERICA'S SIXTY FAMILIES. It rocked the nation and became a classic. Lundberg showed how America was ruled by a plutocracy of inherited wealth, even under the New Deal. At the time he could only provide a sampling of the economic and political patterns of those families, which, for one reason or another, had come under public scrutiny. In addition to the Sixty Families he dealt with in depth, he was able to outline the probable holdings of a few hundred other families. The author, in writing THE RICH AND THE SUPER-RICH, had at his disposal infinitely richer data, monographs, Congressional investigations than were available three decades ago. They have made it possible for him to give us a book which is much more than a mere updating of AMERICA'S SIXTY FAMILIES. It is, rather, a systematic study of the entire wealthy class and its familial structure. (In one important aspect it resembles AMERICA'S SIXTY FAMILIES: It is written for the layman to awaken the reader to the real and little-known situation.) These families have all the old levers of power and wealth plus a whole host of new ones created for them during the intervening decades by the politicians, lawyers and judges who serve them. Although published in 1968 and rocketed to the top of the bestseller list, the wealth managed by these families remains a significant force in today's economy and should not be underestimated.

"A senior editor at Mother Jones dives into the lives of the extremely rich, showing the fascinating, otherworldly realm they inhabit-and the insidious ways this realm harms us all"--

Fewer than 100 people own and control more wealth than 50 per cent of the world’s population. The Handbook on Wealth and the Super-Rich is a landmark multidisciplinary evaluation of both the lives and lifestyles of the super-rich, as well as the processes that underpin super-wealth generation and its unequal distribution. Drawing on international case studies, leading experts from across the social sciences offer 22 accessible and coherently organized chapters, which critically analyse a range of topics including: • the legitimacy of extreme wealth from a moral economic perspective • biographies of illicit super-wealth • London’s housing markets • how the very wealthy fly • the environmental consequences of super-rich lives • crafting immigration policies to attract the rich. Students and scholars studying a host of topics such as development studies, economics, geography, history, political science and sociology will find this book eminently engaging. It will also be of great interest to public commentators, charitable organizations and NGOs concerned with wealth and income distributions.

With the rise of wealth inequalities, our cities are changing dramatically. This collection critically engages with and advances existing debates on the super-rich and their roles in these transformations. An interdisciplinary range of contributions from international experts including sociologists, geographers, historians, discourse analysts, and urban studies specialists reveal crucial aspects of the real estate investment practices of the super-rich, their social spaces in the city as well as the distinct influence of the super-rich on the transformation of four key cities: London, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. By drawing together diverse disciplines, perspectives, and experiences across different geographical contexts, this book offers a fresh, comparative, and nuanced take on the super-rich and the 1% city, as well as a solid, empirically and theoretically grounded basis to think about future research questions and policy implications.

Forget the 1% - it's time to get to grips with the 0.1% ... There has always been some gap between rich and poor, but it has never been wider - and now the rich are getting wealthier at such breakneck speed that the middle classes are being squeezed out. While the wealthiest 10% of Americans, for example, receive half the nation's income, the real money flows even higher up, in the top 0.1%. As a transglobal class of highly successful professionals, these self-made oligarchs often have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen. But how is this happening, and who are the people making it happen? Chrystia Freeland, acclaimed business journalist and Global Editor-at-Large of Reuters, has unprecedented access to the richest and most successful people on the planet, from Davos to Dubai, and dissects their lives with intelligence, empathy and objectivity. Pacily written and powerfully researched, Plutocrats could not provide a more timely insight into the current state of Capitalism and its most wealthy players. 'A superb piece of reportage ... a tremendous illumination' (New Statesman on Freeland's previous title, Sale of the Century)