All the Money in the World

This week the 2008 Forbes list of the world's billionaires was published. The Forbes article congratulates the billionaires for their gifts and donations that are in the billions, but Peter Bernstein, in the book about the world's billionaires mentioned below, states that that 98% of their money remains in their own pockets.

All the Money in the World: How the Forbes 400 Make and Spend Their Fortunes
Peter Bernstein
The author describes the Forbes 400 whose combined net worth is $3.5 trillion, and 40% belongs to Americans, although that percentage is shrinking. An example is Steven Cohen, a hedge fund CEO, who has a 14 acre estate with a 7000 sq foot ice skating rink.

The Spare Wife
Alex Witchel (2007)
If you would like to read a new, sophisticated novel to see how the other 1% live, place a hold on this "coming soon" title that exposes the world of New York's super rich and media elite.

The Reserve
Russell Banks (2007)
For a new book about the upper class in earlier days, please place a hold on Russell Bank's newest novel. Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, this deeply engaging new novel about an upper class family that has a huge family compound in the Adirondacks raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness—and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules.

To find similar fiction titles, please search the Fiction Connection.