THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERRICH-I-STAN n. 1. a new country located in the heart of America, populated entirely by millionaires, most of whom acqu...
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Oct 24, 2008
Naeem
rated it: 
There ought to be a way to give a book two scores. If there were I would give this both a 2 and a 4.
I have been looking for a book that would update things I read in the 70s; books that emerge from the C. Wright Mills school of political economic sociology. For example, Mills' Power Elite, Domhoff's higher circles and Lundberg's Rich and Super Rich. This book would seem to fit into this collection.
If Frank is correct, he also updates my thinking. I was/am still More...
I have been looking for a book that would update things I read in the 70s; books that emerge from the C. Wright Mills school of political economic sociology. For example, Mills' Power Elite, Domhoff's higher circles and Lundberg's Rich and Super Rich. This book would seem to fit into this collection.
If Frank is correct, he also updates my thinking. I was/am still More...
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Apr 27, 2011
This book is fairly well covered, it seems to me, by other Goodreads reviews.
I’d only note that it had, in my reading, much in common with an imagined television program on the same subject: a similar mix of vivid anecdote (though the vividness here is usually denoted by the number of trailing zeroes rather than visual impact); condensed vignettes of financial rise (or more uncommonly, of fall); short sympathetic interviews juxtaposed with, if not exactly taking More...
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Jun 03, 2008
Emily
rated it: 
You know...I enjoyed the book, but not in the way that I expected. I thought I would be like, "Wow, that would be so awesome to be rich. I would do that and this and that!" But instead I kinda felt bad for these people.
Ok, I didn't really enjoy the feeling bad part, but I enjoyed thinking "Hey...my life is pretty awesome. I have two cats and neither of them wears a gold and diamond collar." I say that because one of them, Rocco, tends to lose his collar sev More...
Ok, I didn't really enjoy the feeling bad part, but I enjoyed thinking "Hey...my life is pretty awesome. I have two cats and neither of them wears a gold and diamond collar." I say that because one of them, Rocco, tends to lose his collar sev More...
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Dec 17, 2009
MaryJo
rated it: 
I am fascinated by the growing problem of income inequality in the US and this book drives home just how out of whack it's become. The author, a Wall Street Journal reporter, covers all facets of the lives of the ultra-wealthy (those with $10 million or more in assets) and shows how they live such different and removed lives from the rest of us that they've essentially created their own country, which he calls "Richistan." The author almost makes fun of this group, with his tone of voi
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Jan 07, 2009
Scott
rated it:
Americans are enamored with the wealthy.
We take national pride in the rags-to-riches story, the mom-and-pop store that makes it big. We say things like “only in America” and call the United States a “land of opportunity.” We value the better mousetrap and laud its inventor with gobs of money.
But those are more the marks of success than of wealth. What really fascinates us is the money. We drive by McMansions and wonder what the owners do for a living, how much money t More...
We take national pride in the rags-to-riches story, the mom-and-pop store that makes it big. We say things like “only in America” and call the United States a “land of opportunity.” We value the better mousetrap and laud its inventor with gobs of money.
But those are more the marks of success than of wealth. What really fascinates us is the money. We drive by McMansions and wonder what the owners do for a living, how much money t More...
Jan 03, 2009
Steve
rated it:
An interesting but ultimately depressing book.
"Richistan" observes that America has been generating wealth and wealthy people at an amazing rate over the past 20 years and that this prodigious growth in both the numbers of the wealthy as well as the scale of their wealth has led to their becoming "a whole other country." It seems kind of funny to be reading it in the wake of the 2008 stock crash and the likely destruction of a large part of that wealth (a number o More...
"Richistan" observes that America has been generating wealth and wealthy people at an amazing rate over the past 20 years and that this prodigious growth in both the numbers of the wealthy as well as the scale of their wealth has led to their becoming "a whole other country." It seems kind of funny to be reading it in the wake of the 2008 stock crash and the likely destruction of a large part of that wealth (a number o More...
May 19, 2011
Todd
rated it:
I have always been fascinated by wealth and social status, or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I am fascinated by my twisted understanding of wealth and social status since I don't have any direct experience with either.
This book, a very quick and light read, provides some good long (almost voyeuristic) looks into the wealthy, how they got there, and what they are thinking. Mr. Frank reports on "wealth" for the Wall Street Journal. He apparently knows his beat very More...
This book, a very quick and light read, provides some good long (almost voyeuristic) looks into the wealthy, how they got there, and what they are thinking. Mr. Frank reports on "wealth" for the Wall Street Journal. He apparently knows his beat very More...
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Jul 16, 2010
It’s no secret that the rich have been getting richer. There are about 3 million millionaires in the US, about one percent of the population. Wall Street Journal columnist Robert Frank‘s conceit here, tho he doesn’t push it too far, is to examine the lives of the rich as if they lived in another country. They do form a separate society, with their own gated communities, clubs, stores, summer camps, and self-help groups. Richistan, moreover, has class divisions of its own. Upper class Richistan,
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Feb 26, 2010
sleeps9hours
rated it:
A quick and funny read about the new ultra-rich; how they made their money, how they live, and how they want to change the world.
Summary from Random House:
The rich have always been different from you and me, but this revealing and funny journey through “Richistan” entertainingly shows that they are more different than ever. Richistanis have 400-foot-yachts, 30,000-square-foot homes, house staffs of more than 100, and their own “arborists.” They’re also different from Old Money, More...
Summary from Random House:
The rich have always been different from you and me, but this revealing and funny journey through “Richistan” entertainingly shows that they are more different than ever. Richistanis have 400-foot-yachts, 30,000-square-foot homes, house staffs of more than 100, and their own “arborists.” They’re also different from Old Money, More...
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Jun 04, 2010
Doug
rated it:
Most of the book a voyeuristic look at the lives of the rich, it was interesting finding out that the rich at all levels don't want to be defined by their wealth while at the same time feeling that they need twice their current net worth to feel secure. An alarming aspect of the book is how the rich are increasingly disconnected from the rest of society. The author portrays the rich engaging in politics and philanthropy as a positive thing, but more and more they are doing it solely on their o
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Mar 19, 2010
Mykle
rated it:
This was handy for what i needed it for, but it lacked teeth. Robert Frank writes for the WSJ and can't really question the dominant paradigms like the rest of us can. The best he can manage is to portray the the ultra-wealthy and their problems in a way that makes them seem kind of pathetic, or perhaps cute, like tiny exotic puppies. Which is something. There's something here, for sure, if you're wondering how the other 0.3 percent lives. The anecdotes are to die for.
But just t More...
But just t More...
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Sep 02, 2009
Regina
rated it:
In a time of recession, Richistan offers a morally-instructive and strangely disturbing retrospective of "the wealth boom and the lives of the new rich."
Meet yesterday's dot-com millionaires, creepy investment bankers and of course the hereditarily loaded. Languish in their enclaves, eavesdrop on their posturing and bickering, and observe their material fetishes. But make sure you flip present tense to past, for many of these mighty have by now fallen. Or at least one ho More...
Meet yesterday's dot-com millionaires, creepy investment bankers and of course the hereditarily loaded. Languish in their enclaves, eavesdrop on their posturing and bickering, and observe their material fetishes. But make sure you flip present tense to past, for many of these mighty have by now fallen. Or at least one ho More...
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Oct 03, 2009
Thomasin
rated it: 
Warning: don't read this book if you're prone to jealous tendencies. As I am.
Well, that warning is probably going over board. (If you went overboard, would you want a basic 12 foot ski-boat? Or a 100 foot yacht? If you'd "settle" for the 100-footer, you're no decent member of Richistan. Richistanis are going for the 400+ yachts, no less.)
Go ahead and read and dream about the 'what if's. And note that one way to get into the lives of the fabulously wealthy if y More...
Well, that warning is probably going over board. (If you went overboard, would you want a basic 12 foot ski-boat? Or a 100 foot yacht? If you'd "settle" for the 100-footer, you're no decent member of Richistan. Richistanis are going for the 400+ yachts, no less.)
Go ahead and read and dream about the 'what if's. And note that one way to get into the lives of the fabulously wealthy if y More...
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Feb 26, 2009
Katie
rated it:
The rich are absolutely fascinating! Frank details all the awesome details of the lives of the rich that US Weekly leaves out - including requests to private jets to cover toilets in alligator-skin, the annual spending of a billionaire household ($80,000 on massages!), and the horror of seeing an identical version of your $30K diamond necklace on another trophy wife at a black-tie ball. The book also shows how the spending of the ultra wealthy is setting a new standard for "the rest of us"
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May 29, 2011
Erin
rated it:
I'll admit it... I'm as fascinated as the next person in peeking behind the curtain to see how the other half lives, which is exactly what this book is about. Some of the details in the book surprised me, others not so much.
I made a point to look at the verso page to see when it was published. A pub date of 2007 means that it came out right before the recession, back when things were still looking rosy. As such, I couldn't help but wish that there was a post-recession sequel. I fo More...
I made a point to look at the verso page to see when it was published. A pub date of 2007 means that it came out right before the recession, back when things were still looking rosy. As such, I couldn't help but wish that there was a post-recession sequel. I fo More...
Nov 26, 2008
Elena
rated it:
Entertaining in a voyeuristic sort of way. I believe the same sort of journalistic detachment that allows the reader to both marvel at the absurdity of, and secretly still desire to participate in, the luxury culture when reading this book is what bumped it down to three stars for me. As other readers have commented it's a very quick, superficial portrait of the new rich. The parts that were the most interesting to me, like effect of the ubiquitous display culture on the those who view themse
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Aug 02, 2011
This was a very interesting, entertaining, well-written book. I bet Robert Frank gets paid a lot by the WSJ to be this entertaining, and well he should be. But you know who gets paid more? All the people he interviews! It was interesting to read about the lives of the new rich. In some ways it's frustrating (they have so much money and they spend it on the dumbest things) and in others way it makes me feel really good about being me (basically, people born into obscene wealth are almost guarante
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Jan 06, 2010
Donald
rated it:
I'll admit that I read this book as a “guilty pleasure” read. I wanted a voyueristic look into the lives of the wealthy, and got exactly what I was peeking for. The main thesis of the book is that the wealthy are increasingly separated from the rest of us, and that separation is increasing. Frank knows his topic, and presents a story worthy of People magazine (or any other supermarket check-out stand fodder) wrapped in a package respectable enough for those of us who would never dream of buy
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Feb 23, 2009
Chrishna
rated it:
I learned that I could've gone to butler school and walked into a six figure salary upon graduation. And it would been a third of the cost of law school! The new rich certainly inhabit a different world than I do. This was written in 2007, and some of the richest inhabitants of richistan are now more famous for running their banks into billions of dollars of debt. A follow-up on who has any assets left now would be interesting, but my husband summarized this book well by saying, "It wa
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Jan 05, 2012
Cori
rated it:
This book is thought provoking. Some sections were nothing short of a disgusting display of gluttony. The Barbarians in the Ballroom and Size Really Does Matter chapters had me shaking my head in disbelief. I had no idea something like a shadow boat even existed!
I do think I fall in line with the idea that I don't begrudge "Richistanis" their wealth and good fortune. Frank did an excellent job of showing how driven many of the members of the new wealthy class are, but s More...
I do think I fall in line with the idea that I don't begrudge "Richistanis" their wealth and good fortune. Frank did an excellent job of showing how driven many of the members of the new wealthy class are, but s More...
Oct 29, 2010
Edwin
rated it:
This was delicious reading for me, getting to know how the richest of the rich live (those who have net worths ranging from ten million to billions of dollars). It's sociological reading. I got to know who reside in this country of "Rich-istan". Their numbers grew dramatically in the last few years, fed by a "global river of money" seeking worthwhile investments that swelled exponentially in the last two decades with the emergence of new financing mechanisms. It's not the old
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Aug 04, 2009
Scott
rated it:
The title of the book comes from the notion that really rich people in the U.S. live such different lives from the rest of us that, in a way, they are really living in a different country since they often aren't affected by many of the events and pressures that influence the lives of average Americans. The author profiles a sampling of the "new rich" & provides us outsiders with some insight into their lives. And their lives really are different from ours. One example that really stuck
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Apr 12, 2009
Carrie
rated it:
A book about the Noveau Riche in the USA. The past decade has seen a meteoric rise in the number of American millionaires. Driven by the financial markets and leveraged investments, America has seen the creation of 3 levels of high wealth.
1) Lower Rich:1 million in assets (7.5 million households)
2) Middle Rich: 10 million- 100 million (2 million households)
3) Upper Rich: 100 million -1 billion (in the thousands)
A good time to read this, as undoubtedly these n More...
1) Lower Rich:1 million in assets (7.5 million households)
2) Middle Rich: 10 million- 100 million (2 million households)
3) Upper Rich: 100 million -1 billion (in the thousands)
A good time to read this, as undoubtedly these n More...
Nov 16, 2008
Joe
rated it:
This book is a collection of statistics and anecdotes about the makeup and lives of America's uber-rich. It's a relatively short read that is more of an introduction and summary, rather than an in-depth study.
The most interesting thing that I took from this is that most of America's super-rich did not make the bulk of their fortune from inheritance. Sure, there are many of those people around -- and have been for years and years -- but since the 80's, there have been a large number More...
The most interesting thing that I took from this is that most of America's super-rich did not make the bulk of their fortune from inheritance. Sure, there are many of those people around -- and have been for years and years -- but since the 80's, there have been a large number More...
Sep 08, 2008
Michael
rated it:
I chose this book because I do a lot of fundraising for work and wanted to understand my donors better. The author is a Wall Street Journal reporter who invented his own sociological beat covering the new rich. The book is a pleasant surprise. It is not a glorification of the new rich but carefully explains their roots and mores; delving into topics as tax structure, the growth and role of IPOs and venture capital; and the dynamics of new money vs. old. The book divides Richistan into three leve
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Sep 25, 2008
Katie
rated it:
Richistan provided a fascinating look inside the lives of the super-wealthy. As Frank notes, the number of millionaires and billionaires in the United States is steadily growing, most from the ranks of self-made entrepreneurs. He also makes a good point when he says that the wealthy are a class that is somewhat unstudied. He touches on a number of interesting threads that run through the lives of the wealthy (e.g., hiring help, one-upsmanship in the arena of philanthropy and spending, decidin
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Jul 14, 2008
Michelle
rated it:
The author is the "wealth writer" for the Wall Street Journal and is the only writer exclusively covering the New Wealth in America. He started covering this topic a couple of years ago and wrote articles in the WSJ that later evolved into the subject of the book. The basic instigator of the book, revealed in the opening, was a statistic on the number of millionaires doubling in the 1990s.
The book examines a new country - Richistani - populated by the new rich. There are More...
The book examines a new country - Richistani - populated by the new rich. There are More...
Jul 23, 2008
Abby
rated it:
I actually finished this book a couple days ago. I wrote most of a review, then my computer froze up and I lost it. I have been putting off writing it again. This book dragged for me. I spent a long time reading it. Part of that was because I lost it for a few days on the back of downstairs toilet. I hardly ever use that bathroom.
Anyways, it's a book about the "new rich", as in, people who have made their fortunes within the last, I don't know, 20 years. It talks about the More...
Anyways, it's a book about the "new rich", as in, people who have made their fortunes within the last, I don't know, 20 years. It talks about the More...
Mar 01, 2008
James
rated it:
The first thing I noticed about this book is that it is about a half
inch narrower in its width than typical hardcovers. The editor,
like a desperate, talentless high school student, changed the margins a bit in
order to extend the content into a more respectable book-appropriate
length. The size manipulations notwithstanding, Robert Frank’s
Richistan is another decent non-fiction book illuminating another
fascinating American subculture.
Don’t confuse it with
More...
inch narrower in its width than typical hardcovers. The editor,
like a desperate, talentless high school student, changed the margins a bit in
order to extend the content into a more respectable book-appropriate
length. The size manipulations notwithstanding, Robert Frank’s
Richistan is another decent non-fiction book illuminating another
fascinating American subculture.
Don’t confuse it with
More...
Feb 02, 2008
Shinichi
rated it:
The book's subtitle says it all: A Journey through the American Wealth Boom and the lives of the New Rich. Oh, and it is quite a journey that Wall Street Journal writer Robert Frank takes as he interviews, observes, and hangs out with the newly rich.
The title, of course, is a play on Rich and istan, which seems to be the suffix for every newly minted Middle-Eastern/post-Soviet nation that keeps confounding American geographers, school children, and even temporary White House occupant More...
The title, of course, is a play on Rich and istan, which seems to be the suffix for every newly minted Middle-Eastern/post-Soviet nation that keeps confounding American geographers, school children, and even temporary White House occupant More...
