“Our greatest satirist” – Kurt Vonnegut

*本书已经经过扩展以及修改，同时收入一篇来自Thomas Frank的前言。

在美国，幸福与富裕是同义词。消费主义、贪婪以及贪得无厌的欲望是美国人的痴迷。作者跟着Twain, Veblen以及Mencken这些伟大的讽刺作家脚步后透过他的讽刺风格去思考美国人为何抵抗不了金钱的魅力。

作者在自己居住的城市去第一线观察纽约市的有钱人，在书中提供了一幅尖锐及幽默的肖像。尽管它是在30年前写出来的，书中的观察到今天一样准确。现代的有钱人不光是因为富裕程度，更是因为对于社会意识，跟普通人越来越有距离。

好评：

Money and Class is, on every page, a pleasure to read. Lapham’s … sentences simply radiate elegance.- Thomas Frank, author, What’s the Matter with Kansas?

"Without doubt our greatest satirist―elegant, honorable, learned and fair. I love reading him." ―Kurt Vonnegut

"Lewis Lapham―born of Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken―is the most provocative and engaging essayist in the country." ―George Plimpton

"An elegant collection of sardonic and satirical essays . . . Lapham is a moralist in the tradition of Gore Vidal." ―Godfrey Hodgson, Independent

"An elegant descant of despair about the state of American culture and political life." ― Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

"In this aptly titled collection of twenty-five exquisite essays, Lewis Lapham depicts an ugly America. These dour yet witty ruminations spare no one and nothing." ― Johanna Berkman, New York Times Book Review

"Lapham refuses to cozy down to his audience, much less cozy up to its ignorance and prejudices. Nor will he surrender a jot of his wit, erudition and style." ―Los Angeles Times

"Lapham's portraits of his country are astute and his dry wit as sharp as a knife." ―Times

"These dour yet witty ruminations spare no one and nothing...." ―Johanna Berkman, The New York Times Book Review

"This is a book that must be read. If you can't stomach the philosophy, just lie back and enjoy the prose." ― Marina Benjamin, Evening Standard

"We should honour and respect Lapham, and all his works, and buy this book . . . Like Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens, in whose ballpark he is worthy to play, the predicament is of the civilised man who has become a relentless chronicler of the awfulness of American politics." ― Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

"[Lapham is] a latter-day Mencken or Twain, our last best hope for literary journalism, or any kind of journalism that isn't lazy and shamelessly reverential of money." ― John Cook, Washington City Pages

关于作者：

LEWIS H. LAPHAM 是Lapham’s Quarterly的创始人及总编辑也是Harper’s的荣誉编辑。他的专栏曾获得National Magazine Award的奖，当时的评语是： “an exhilarating point of view in an age of conformity,” 他在2002年更获得the Thomas Paine Journalism Award。他在2007年被收入American Society of Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame。他的书包括Fortune's Child, Imperial Masquerade, The Wish for Kings, Hotel America, Waiting for the Barbarians, Theater of War, The Agony of Mammon, Gag Rule, Pretensions to Empire, 以及 The Age of Folly。