“Richistan: A Journey Through The 21st Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich,” by Robert Frank

“Richistan: A Journey Through The 21^st Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich,” by Robert Frank (New York: Random House; 2007), 277 pages.

Richistan is a new spin on an old story: how the rich are different from the rest of us. The new spin on this old claim is that there is a separate country populated entirely by rich people within the United States. The country of Richistan has no borders, but has some well-identified traits and characteristics and unusual anthropological features. Robert Frank reports like a brave explorer in the mold of Captain James Cook in that he goes out on numerous journeys to explore and chart this strange place called Richistan, and its inhabitants. This book is the report of the findings of Frank’s journeys to the locations and lives of the rich.

Frank’s book tells us that the citizens of Richistan have butlers, but they don’t use the antiquarian term of the landed leisure class, preferring the more modern and professional title of “household manager.” The new breed of butler has all the good sense and knowledge of P.G Woodhouse’s Jeeves of yesteryear, but also possesses the latest knowledge of personal and electronic security, human resources, computers and electronics, wine, jewellery, and all other things of interest to the citizen of Richistan.

The citizens of Richistan earned their wealth from a variety of means: salaried wealth; selling their business; managing money; being beneficiaries of their private employer (in which they hold share options) going public; and founding companies. The Richistani did not inherit wealth. They are what used to be called “new money,” and they possess all the vulgar trappings of “new money” that include ostentatious displays of their new wealth, such as expensive cars and boats, high profile chairing of philanthropic charity balls, ownership of private jets (both outright ownership and fractional ownership), exclusive residential estates, rich people only vacation resorts, exclusive artworks, competitive altruism and philanthropic donations, and their participation in politics. The Richistani also deal with problems peculiar to the rich, such as their worries about simply being rich, and how to prepare their children to cope with becoming beneficiaries of large inheritances.

Richistan is an interesting analysis of the new rich. It shows just how different the rich are from others. The inhabitants of Richistan are not the modest and unsuspecting millionaires that were the subject of The Millionaire Next Door. The Richistani the polar opposite of the “millionaires next door:” they are not modest or unassuming; they are not afraid of displaying their wealth, and appear neither humble nor circumspect. Detailed explanations and examples of Richistani traits and features tend to tax the reader’s patience. Unless you are particularly interested in the subject matter, it is possible that Richistan may not grasp the attention of the average reader for all 277 pages. It’s neither uplifting nor inspiring, and rather than grab the reader’s attention and fail to let it go, it tends to drone on about things that are of interest to a narrow range of reader. The book, to its credit, makes no judgment on the ways of the rich: it is neither accusatory of blaming, but rather is explanatory. It shows us who the new rich are, how some of them became rich, and what they do with their wealth, and leaves it us to us to decide what we will of it all (if we can get through to the end of the book).