Money and Class in America

By Lewis H. Lapham,

Book cover of Money and Class in America

Book description

Extensively expanded and revised, with a new foreword by Thomas Frank

In the United States, happiness and wealth are often regarded as synonymous. Consumerism, greed, and the insatiable desire for more are American obsessions. In the native tradition of Twain, Veblen, and Mencken, the editor of Lapham's Quarterly here examines…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Money and Class in America as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lewis H. Lapham was fascinated and puzzled by money. Particularly by the people who had lots of it. Money and Class in America, subtitled "Notes on the Civil Religion", is a polemic discussion of the power and influence of financial capital on the psychology and emotional character of the wealthy American classes. It follows in the tradition of Thorstein Veblen, combining a journalistic observation of people and experiences with a critical insight of national and class character.