"The Have and Have-Yachts" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

In a collection of telling essays, Evan Osnos appraises the lives of 1% of the US population known as the super wealthy. The talented author explores their obsession with $500 million yachts and bomb-proof bunkers. He discloses their political influence and the extreme measures they take to avoid paying taxes. 

“The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich” is composed of three sections: "THE REWARDS—How to Spend It" which describes what the mega rich purchase, "THE MECHANICS—How to Keep It," which illustrates the ways the ultra-rich avoid sharing their wealth, and "THE PERILS—“How to Lose It," a series of case studies on some of the super-rich who get caught acquiring and maintaining their wealth in disreputable ways.

The 10 essays present an unfiltered exposé of the US households that hold most of the country's wealth. In a staggering fact, Osnos reports that the number of US billionaires has doubled their net worth in just eight years, and that the ultra-wealthy have grown from 10 to 170 in a single generation. 

The author paints a portrait of the plutocrats' excessive lifestyles, including lavish children's birthday parties featuring entertainers such as Beyoncé, Rod Stewart, and the Rolling Stones. He notes that large donations are given to politicos to influence their decision-making and that as their wealth increases, so does their sense of entitlement.

Osnos also points to the negative impact of the widening wealth gap and the concomitant erosion of the American dream on the average US citizen. There are case studies on the Getty family, Mark Zuckerberg, and other disgraced moguls, who meet in "white collar support groups." In a lengthy look at the moral compromises Zuckerberg allows at Facebook, the author concludes with the challenge: "The question is not whether Zuckerberg has the power to fix Facebook, but whether he has the will to do so. He succeeded, long ago, in making Facebook great. The challenge before him now is to make it good." 

The largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history is depicted, along with the explosive backlash it provoked. Osnos paints a picture of Greenwich, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest suburbs in the United States, known for extreme conservatism and numerous scandals.

Reading this explosive account of the United States' oligarchs is a wake-up call about the dangers of a highly stratified society. It helps readers understand why so many US citizens struggle to afford housing, food, and education. It elucidates that those at the pinnacle of wealth did not get there because they were smarter or stronger than anyone else, but because they were greedy, selfish, and amoral. Actually, many of them inherited their wealth and did not personally accumulate it.

The expanded essays that compose "The Haves and Have Yachts" were originally published in The New Yorker. Osnos is a skilled investigative journalist. His highly effective exposé of the ultra-rich's excesses serves as a mirror to the complacency bred by unchecked power and a wake-up call to the ripple effect the culture of the super-wealthy has on our society. 

Particularly disturbing to me was the essay about the multimillion-dollar bunkers that the extremely rich build in case of an apocalypse. At the same time, there are millions of unhoused people in our country who wander our streets looking for a place to rest their heads. Such injustice should be offensive, but Osnos maintains the magnates do not see it that way. 

The author's writing style is sharp and sardonic, analytical and probing, unsettling and infuriating. It could not be timelier. Regrettably, the author does not address how to narrow the wealth and compassion gaps in our country.

About the author: Osnos has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2008. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller "Wildland: The Making of America's Fury" and "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China," which won the National Book Award. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Buy the book