Superclass

The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making

By: David Rothkopf

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Each of them is one in a million. They number 6,000 on a planet of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and, from the shadows, the world's most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the history of our time.

Today's superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and power. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group. But do they have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen, as nationalist critics have argued? They control globalization more than anyone else. But has their influence fed the growing economic and social inequity that divides the world? What happens behind closed-door meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at 41,000 feet? Conspiracy or collaboration? Deal-making or idle self-indulgence? What does the rise of Asia and Latin America mean for the conventional wisdom that shapes our destinies? Who sets the rules for a group that operates beyond national laws?

Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews and extensive original reporting, Superclass answers all of these questions and more. It draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know little about, even though it profoundly affects our everyday lives. It is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. And it is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in which we live.

©2008 David Rothkopf (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An impressively knowledgeable guide." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Neither hand-wringing nor worshipful, this book delivers an unsettling account of what the immense and growing power of this superclass bodes for the future." (Publishers Weekly)

Narrator Patrick Lawler is the highlight

The performance is top notch. Patrick goes all out taking on various accents which adds so much to an otherwise average nonfiction piece.

A small window to the global ruling class

This book is a basic to those that know nothing about the world of the ruling class; the super rich and those in power in the world.
The books is basic. It cover very general and things that most people knows about.
It gives an overview of how things are, or were because was published in 2008. And 2008 was so long ago and the world is no longer the same. But it gives to glimpse of how things was then and how things are now and compare.
This book has some truth but don't trust every thing in this book and don't trust everything in any book.
This book does give you pieces of information to understand the world of the elite.

If you are a believer this book is for you.

The book was a let down, for anybody with an inquisitive mind.
The author relies on association for his arguments. It would be like some random joe saying 'I am a great basketball player' then when you ask him for proof he rattles off names 'Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Wilk Chamberlain',He claims the world changes are a matter of coincidence and not a result of conspiracy... It was like listening to the teachers pet regurgitating class lessons. If you like wasting your time and are an apathetic coincidence theorist this book is for you!

Pass

The core message and rare nuggets of compelling data of this book are lost by the author's need to justify his own social standing and habit of descending into the 'weeds' on semi-relevant tangents. If the length of the book were shortened by half, it could be a more interesting read.