Full Description
Extensively expanded and revised, with a new foreword by Thomas Frank
In the United States, happiness and wealth are often regarded as synonymous. Consumerism, greed, and the insatiable desire for more are American obsessions. In the native tradition of Twain, Veblen, and Mencken, the editor of Lapham's Quarterly here examines our fascination with the ubiquitous green goddess.
Focusing on the wealthy sybarites of New York City, whom Lewis H. Lapham has been able to observe firsthand in their natural habitat, Money and Class in America is a caustic, and often hilarious, portrait of a segment of the American population who, in the thirty years since the book was originally written, have become only further removed—both in terms of wealth and social awareness—from everyone else.
Contents
PREAMBLE 2
1. THE GILDED CAGE 10
2. PROTOCOLS OF WEALTH 38
3. THE GOLDEN HORDE 66
4. THE ROMANCE OF CRIME 98
5. SOCIAL HYGIENE 130
6. THE PRECARIOUS EDEN 166
7. DESCENT INTO THE MIRROR 200
8. HOLY DREAD 236
9. COINED SOULS 260
10. ENVOI 282
