The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy

With the spotlight seemingly always on the rich and famous, it's surprising to realize just how little we really know about America's wealthiest citizens. Who are these people? How did they get "that way"? And how can we court them?

The New Elite presents the many different faces of the American rich, and highlights the diverse factors that drive and define our country's most powerful and influential class. With bracing candor and penetrating insight, the authors explode the stereotype of the overeducated, luxury-seeking socialite to reveal hardworking entrepreneurs; colorful eccentrics; back-against-the-wall neurotics; enlightened benefactors; and an eye-catching patchwork of social, political, and spiritual outlooks.

Based on thousands of interviews with these enigmatic millionaires and billionaires, The New Elite dissects five classes of America's rich, including those who struggle with the responsibilities and implications of serious money, those who refuse to let it change them, and those who are truly happy to define themselves by it. As demonstrated in this entertaining and enlightening look at America's "ruling class," each type profoundly influences our culture and even our economy. And it is in understanding the similarities and differences among these types that we can find the soul of American wealth, learn from it-and more important, profit from it ourselves. Love them or hate them, we certainly notice the rich (and often court them). Try as we might, we can't ignore them. Nor should we.