Evan Osnos is a brilliant journalist a writer for the New Yorker.His latest collection of essays about the really rich of their lifestyles from purchasing yachts to safe homes to having headline stars like Beyoncé perform at their life celebrations .Really eye opening I enjoyed from first to last essay. #netgalley#scribner

Having read Evan Osnos' pieces for the New Yorker, I knew what I was in for. His writing exposes the truth behind the America, and the world, that we are currently facing. I have recommended his writing, and shared his journalism, with people in the past and this book is no exception. A must read for all.

I will begin by saying that every individual essay in here is interesting, well-conceived, and well-executed. Osnos is a professional journalist and his writing shows it. I am not sad that I read any of these essays and if you have interest in the subject matter, I think you will get a lot out of this book.

However, I am not sure you’ll get any more out of this book than you would if you bought a New Yorker subscription and then clicked through on all his articles about the rich and elite in America. He (or his editor) have tried to organize the ten articles in the book into three sections--How to Spend [Money], How to Keep [Money], and How to Lose [Money], but it’s not always clear why one article has been put one section vs. another. For example, the essay on how Greenwich republicans went MAGA is in the How to Keep [Money] section, when it really seems more about spending money on political influence.

The clearest explanation of what I think the book’s central theme and message is comes in the last essay, about a man who runs a support group for people convicted of white collar crime where he discusses how America spends so much time and effort trying to identify causes of shamelessness and criminality in the lower classes but almost none trying to do the same for the upper classes.

Overall this book is a collection of very interesting anecdotes about the upper class in America. Unfortunately that’s all it is.

"Ever wondered how billionaires prepare for the apocalypse, celebrate a bat mitzvah, and rewrite tax law—all before brunch?"

Welcome to The Haves and the Have-Yachts, Evan Osnos’s sharp, and dark, and unnervingly intimate look at America’s richest 0.01%. This is no glitzy exposé meant to dazzle us with price tags and name-drops. Osnos opens the curtain on a world that is power. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Each essay (from the New Yorker series) is its own dispatch from the top of the wealth pyramid—yacht decks, private island bunkers, tax havens with better customer service than your doctor’s office. But this isn’t just journalism for the rubberneckers; it’s real analysis. What starts as amusing or absurd such as a $500,000 toddler birthday party, a Gulfstream jet painted to match the owner's mood board, spirals quickly into commentary on influence, inequality, and how deeply American democracy is shaped by the whims of those who can afford to float above it.

What makes this collection standout is not just the access, it’s Osnos’s ability to balance sharp cultural critique with unexpected nuance. A disgraced tycoon in a white-collar therapy group doesn’t just serve as a punchline. Instead, he’s a cautionary tale of what happens when delusion meets deregulation. A yacht becomes not a floating palace, but a metaphor for mobility, insulation, and moral drift.

There’s a quiet through-line here, too: fear. Fear of losing status. Fear of the poor. Fear of death, discomfort, irrelevance. For all their power, these are people who build their lives around never having to say no, and Osnos makes you feel how fragile (and how bizarre) that existence really is.

If you read The White Lotus as a documentary or keep a running list of billionaires who’ve run for president, this is your next read. And if you’re still unsure how wealth disparity became this unhinged, Osnos offers a history lesson tucked inside a yacht party and lets you decide if you still want to RSVP! #thehaveandthehave-yachts #yachtrock #evanosnos
#scribner

I have been a fan of Evan Osnos' writing ever since he was The New Yorker's correspondent in China. After returning to the US, he maintained his fresh perspective on national issues, and I particularly enjoyed the pieces he wrote as a different kind of correspondent — from the land of the rich and powerful. I am glad that they have now been collected in this volume of essays.

I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates great non-fiction.

Thanks to the publisher, Scribner, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.