Money and Class in America

Republished in a new edition on its 30th anniversary, Lewis H. Lapham's most celebrated book is a hilariously caustic looks at the plight of New York's upper classes, struggling to get by on $250,000 a year (at 1988 prices).

"Amusing and provocative" - The New York Times

In the United States, happiness and wealth are often regarded as synonymous. Consumerism, greed, and the insatiable desire for more is an American obsession. 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, who Lapham has been able to observe first-hand 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.