The Haves and Have-Yachts
Dispatches on the Ultrarich
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Simon & Schuster Ltd
Published:3rd Jun '25
Should be back in stock very soon
*** THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ***
‘An eye-opening account of superyachts, the billionaires who buy them, and what it all means for the rest of us … [a] droll and timely analysis of extreme wealth’ – Guardian
Who are America's oligarchs? What do they want? How do they operate? Is there anything that can be done to contain their power?
The ultrarich hold more of America’s wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. In this incisive and provocative book, Evan Osnos offers an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.
With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, Osnos explores the indulgences, incentives and psychological distortions that define our time. He delves into the unprecedented influence Silicon Valley and Wall Street have on government, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires. He also exposes the hidden world of the ultrarich in all its outrageous, fabulous, ridiculous detail: a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus.
Originally published in the New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of the rise of America’s modern oligarchy. Osnos’s essays are a wake-up call – a case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultrarich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling and eye-opening, The Haves and Have-Yachts couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world.
‘A field guide to the super-rich . . . Evan Osnos, a writer for the New Yorker, gained access to the world of the 0.00001 per cent and reports on their thinking and behaviour, their manners and delusions. Sure, it’s not the toughest beat but a hoot to chronicle – and even more fun to read’ * Sunday Times *
‘An eye-opening account of superyachts, the billionaires who buy them, and what it all means for the rest of us . . . [a] droll and timely analysis of extreme wealth’ * Guardian, Book of the Day *
'There is something of the Hogarthian morality tale about the stories . . . wonderfully salacious' * London Standard *
'A beautifully written and often amusing climb to the very top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs' -- Rana Foroohar * Financial Times *
'Toggling between extravagances like simulated World War II battles and dueling luxury disaster refuges, Osnos takes the reader deep into our new Gilded Age' * New York Times *
‘A collection of essays on the various insanities of the contemporary ultrarich . . . ‘The Floating World’ makes for a great introduction, not just thorough but also funny. Even funnier, though more alarming, is ‘Survival of the Richest’ . . . they are all examples of superb, dogged journalism. Osnos writes well and fact-checks his material obsessively. Furthermore, the issues he raises are profound’ -- Bryan Appleyard * Literary Review *
'Revelatory' -- Rosemary Goring * Herald (Scotland) *
'A thoroughly reported and spryly narrated – and deeply maddening – tour of extreme wealth' * Kirkus *
‘Surely all but the most gullible can conclude that America’s regime deserves to be called oligarchy – rule by the wealthy few. How did the US reach this point? . . . Osnos’ book, subtitled Dispatches on the Ultrarich, provides some important answers’ * UnHerd *
'The Gilded Age had Mark Twain, the Jazz Age had F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Age of Trump, luckily, has Evan Osnos. In The Haves and the Have-Yachts, Osnos reveals the secret lives and preoccupations of America’s increasingly powerful oligarchs and probes their outsized impact on the rest of us. Osnos is an astute political reporter and a wonderful and witty stylist, making this menagerie of modern-day Robber Barons equal parts entertaining and appalling. Anyone trying to understand who really rules Trump’s America must read it' -- Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money
ISBN: 9781398553224
Dimensions: 234mm x 153mm x 22mm
Weight: unknown
304 pages