The Moneymakers

Since the Second World War dozens of men have thought had and like characters out of Horatio Alger have grown rich enough to rival and sometimes surpass a Rockefeller or Vanderbilt. Who are these Great Big New Rich? How did they do it? The Moneymakers is the first book-length exploration of the New Rich in this country. With fresh research that includes personal interview and conversations with many of the subjects of the book, Kenneth Lamott examines the social phenomenon of the tycoon. Never condescending but delightfully witting and penetratingly perceptive, he What methods these grand entrepreneurs have used to amass stupendous fortunes from oil, shipping, acquiring and vitalizing ailing companies, real estate development, creative technology, the stock market, savings-and-loan institutions, etc ... How they share a monolithic devotion to the pursuit of money which is rooted in a pathological need for acquisition and has interesting religious overtones. How our complicated tax laws have been written for the benefit of the rich. Why the conspicuous consumption of grand yachts and baronial castles has largely been replaced by more culturally acceptable practices. How according to the "Catastrophe Theory of Wealth" the very rich become even richer during such disasters as depressions and wars. What ultimately will be the future of the institution of the tycoon? Will it survive in the wake of the advance of an educated corporate bureaucracy that is necessary for a technological society? Can great wealth be made in new areas yet untried? Or are enormous fortunes even of any relevance either ethically or economically to our contemporary world? Handsomely illustrated, The Moneymakers is not only a superbly informative and entertaining handbook on the ways of the Great Big New Rich and how they got it; it is also an important, thoroughly researched, and authoritative work of serious social comment.