The recent explosion of wealth has created a new breed of multimillionaires. Richistan takes readers inside a rarified world to see how blue-collar-workers-turned-billionaires are earning, spending, and living. From "Butler School," where domestics are specially trained to serve the newly wealthy, to self-help groups for coping with the strains of $10 million incomes, you'll discover how the nouveau riche learn to be riche. In addition, Richistan looks behind the glitz to find the real story behind new money and its impact on the richest nation in the world.
Robert Frank, Wall Street Journal "wealth reporter," shows us how the inhabitants of Richistan--a "parallel country of the rich"--live. This is not the other half; it's the other one percent. Richistanis worry about their financial security and raising children not to be Paris Hilton. They have butlers, $600,000 Franck Muller watches (Rolexes are cheap), and alligator skin toilet seats on private jets. Dick Hill does his usual masterful work, faithfully translating Frank's frequent amusement. Hill's light tone is perfect for relating the foibles of those with unlimited funds. Hill also creates appropriate voices for the many interviewees and others quoted in the book--a particular favorite is the philanthropist from Texas who applies business rules to his charity giving. A.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
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