Money and Class in America

In the United States, happiness and wealth are often regarded as synonymous. Consumerism, greed, and the insatiable desire for more is an American obsession. Following the native tradition of Twain, Veblen, and Mencken, the editor of Lapham’s Quarterly here examines our worship of Mammon.

Focusing on the wealthy sybarites of New York City, whom 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.

Revised, and with a new introduction by What’s the Matter With Kansas author Thomas Frank, this skewering of America’s super-rich is perhaps still more pertinent today than when it first appeared.