Aristocracy, American Style - Class Privilege and the Persistence of Elite Power
Yet from the Revolution forward, the nation has cultivated elites in all but name—dynasties of wealth, pedigree, and corporate power—while praising them as proof the system works. Drawing on public policy, popular culture, and political rhetoric, Isenberg pierces the veil that shields the most privileged among us. Ranging from Gilded Age robber barons to modern moguls and influencers, from Brahmins to “nepo babies,” she demonstrates how American elites have long borrowed aristocratic forms—crests reborn as logos, courts reborn as corporate suites, noblesse oblige reborn as naming rights—while media infrastructures keep us awed by scandal and celebrity churn. The result is not just a roll call of the rich but a working model of power. From the racetracks and jockey clubs of early America to the halls of the Ivy League and the red carpets of Hollywood, Aristocracy, American Style reframes today’s inequality as the predictable outcome of an old, distinctly American regime—one that thrives under democratic slogans while narrowing democratic possibility—and shows what it costs a republic to mistake prestige for merit.