A collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess, providing a look at how the ultrarich shape—and sometimes warp—our social and political landscape.
Nimbly reported ... The only part of Osnos’s book that has not been published before is an introduction that is not even 10 pages long, which feels a bit like cheating. Still, I grudgingly concede that this is about as good as a work of this sort could be ... Regrettably timely.
There is something unconvincing about turning these pieces into a topical anthology ... This feeling deepens when you realize that some of the book’s sermonizing material about how Osnos’s hometown lost its Yankee propriety also appeared in his opprobrium-rich 2021 book Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury ...
The Haves and Have-Yachts is journalistic: descriptive, not prescriptive. It’s a prestige romp in the aloof mode of The New Yorker —a style that keeps passions at a minimum ... Memorable.
