PLUTOCRATS The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else

Freeland looks at the second Gilded Age in the West as it coincides with the first Gilded Age in the developing world to show how industrialization and globalization improve standards of living but also widen the inequality between the super rich, the wealthiest 0.1 percent, and everyone else. Allyson Ryan narrates at an even pace and competently handles the names of the companies and people Freeland uses in her examples, as well as the jargon of finance. However, she doesn't differentiate between the quotations and dialogue that Freeland uses to illustrate her points and the rest of the text, making the reading difficult to follow. She also maintains the same tone throughout the narration. Overall, an uninspired reading makes this fascinating look into the lives of the super rich difficult to engage with. E.N. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2013]