From the Orwell Prize shortlisted author of Freedom for Sale, The Rich is the fascinating history of how economic elites from ancient Egypt to the present day have gained and spent their money.
Starting with the Romans and Ancient Egypt and culminating with the oligarchies of modern Russia and China, it compares and contrasts the rich and powerful down the ages and around the world. What unites them? Have the same instincts of entrepreneurship, ambition, vanity, greed and philanthropy applied throughout?
As contemporary politicians, economists and the public wrestle with the inequities of our time – the parallel world inhabited by the ultra-wealthy at a time of broader hardship – it is salutary to look to history for explanations. This book synthesises thousands of years of human behaviour and asks the question: is the development of the globalised super-rich over the past twenty years anything new?
Starting with the Romans and Ancient Egypt and culminating with the oligarchies of modern Russia and China, it compares and contrasts the rich and powerful down the ages and around the world. What unites them? Have the same instincts of entrepreneurship, ambition, vanity, greed and philanthropy applied throughout?
As contemporary politicians, economists and the public wrestle with the inequities of our time – the parallel world inhabited by the ultra-wealthy at a time of broader hardship – it is salutary to look to history for explanations. This book synthesises thousands of years of human behaviour and asks the question: is the development of the globalised super-rich over the past twenty years anything new?
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Reviews
The Rich bursts with fascinating details about the lives of a colourful cast of ultra-wealthy characters . . . a sweeping narrative that traces a lineage from the majesty of earlier ages to the oligarchs and tycoons of the present day
A panoramic and solidly researched new book . . . Good books leave you knowing more than you did to start with, and feeling less complacent about what you believed. On both of those counts, The Rich does the business
Fascinating
More readable than Piketty . . . original and enjoyable
A vivid account
The Rich is an absorbing read . . . there is plenty of rich material
The Rich is witty, extremely readable and home to all sorts of enjoyably crazy figures
Praise for John Kampfner: One of Britain's most distinguished political writers