Aristocracy, American Style: Class Privilege and the Persistence of Elite Power

A New York Times bestselling historian confronts the myth of American meritocracy and our enduring reverence for the uber-rich—and how that feedback loop corrodes democracy

Americans are taught to see aristocracy as everything we are not. Yet from the Revolution forward, the nation has cultivated elites in all but name—dynasties of wealth, pedigree, and corporate power—while praising them as proof the system works. In Aristocracy, American Style, bestselling historian Nancy Isenberg shows th...