Made deeply uneasy by the entitlement of America’s ruling class — an entitlement he himself took for granted as a child — [McDonell] doesn’t have any extraordinary insight into why things are the way they are, or how they might be made otherwise.

[An] exploration of privilege and what it means both to be part of the 1 percent and, just as critically, to be part of the other 99 percent and how the system works to keep the offspring in their respective slots.

A reckoning with [McDonelll's] own privileged upbringing.

[A] memoiristic exploration.

A bold, moving description of the white ruling class of the American elite and how they unjustly maintain and pass on their privileges to their children..

As McDonell illuminates a rarified world of money, power, and connections, he also offers candidly sobering insight into the systemic cultural mechanisms designed to protect long-standing social inequalities..