Wealth and Democracy
Subtitle: A Political History of the American Rich
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Broadway; Broadway Books
Published: May 14, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 496
ISBN-13: 9780767905336
Subjects: Political ideologies; Social history; United States; Politics / Current Events; Political Science; Wealth; Representative government and representation; Politics/International Relations; USA; Politics and government; Economic Conditions; Government - U.S. Government; Social Science / Poverty; Political Ideologies - Democracy; United States - General; Political corruption; Representative government and
First sentence: The debate over the compatibility of wealth and democracy is as old as the republic.
Description: "For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. Now he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls "the Second Gilded Age" at the turn of the twenty-first century.".

"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth - how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries.

He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes."--BOOK JACKET.