The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich

‘An eye-opening account of superyachts, the billionaires who buy them, and what it all means for the rest of us … [a] droll and timely analysis of extreme wealth’ – ​Guardian

Who are America's oligarchs? What do they want? How do they operate? Is there anything that can be done to contain their power?

The ultrarich hold more of America’s wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. In this incisive and provocative book, Evan Osnos offers an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.

With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, Osnos explores the indulgences, incentives and psychological distortions that define our time. He delves into the unprecedented influence Silicon Valley and Wall Street have on government, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires. He also exposes the hidden world of the ultrarich in all its outrageous, fabulous, ridiculous detail: a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus.

Originally published in the New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of the rise of America’s modern oligarchy. Osnos’s essays are a wake-up call – a case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultrarich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling and eye-opening, The Haves and Have-Yachts couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world.

© 2025 Simon & Schuster Audio UK (Audiobook): 9781398553255

Release date

Audiobook: June 3, 2025