Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America

Packed with fascinating data that paints a provocative picture of the new rich In Fortunes of Change , David Callahan contends that something big is happening among the rich in they’re drifting to the left. When Callahan set out to write a book on the new upper class, he expected to profile a greedy and reactionary elite—the robber barons of a second Gilded Age. Instead, he discovered something else. While many of the rich still back a GOP that stands against taxes and regulation, liberalism is spreading fast among the wealthy. In Fortunes of Change , we meet an upper class increasingly filled with super-educated professionals and entrepreneurs who work in “knowledge” industries and live in the bluest parts of America. This cosmopolitan elite takes for granted such key liberal ideas as multiculturalism and active government, and have ever less in common with an extremist GOP based in small-town America and dominated by Tea Party activists and the likes of Sarah Palin. Fortunes of Change Packed with surprising facts and behind-the-scene stories, Fortunes of Change is a must-read book if want to understand how America's politics and culture are changing—and what the future may hold.

DAVID CALLAHAN is a cofounder of the think tank Demos, where he is now a senior fellow. He is the author of several books, including The Cheating Culture. His articles have been published in such places as USA Today, the New York Times, the Nation, and the Washington Monthly.