Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsWhere are the Interviews?
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2020
I read about this book from an article online, and immediately downloaded it, expecting anonymous interviews from some of society's wealthiest and most secretive, compiled and analyzed by an impartial Yale PhD. It is not that at all. It is neither entertaining enough to be for popular consumption, nor academic enough to impress with data and rigor.
There are no interviews at all -- only brief accounts of them.
Instead of providing transcripts (or even detailed retellings), allowing the reader the space and respect to interpret them by one's self, the author inserts dialogue snippets ad-hoc to support his conceptual framework, which comes across as being pre-formed.
This pre-formed conceptual framework frequently reveals itself in loaded word choice. For example, when working-class people expressed (on multiple occasion) measures of gratitude and respect for the rich and the opportunities they provide, the author labels these replies as "scripts", as if working-class people are not informed and/or authentic in their thoughts, feelings and opinions. Or, when the author remarks that wealthy people are "appropriating" frontier art and style of dress, we are suggested to believe that the wealthy are causing a social transgression or trauma by trying to fit in to the norms and aesthetic of their particular environment.
However, such word choices and the attitudes they reveal could have been overlooked if they were surrounded by a penetrating and insightful analysis. That is not to be found in this text.
A central point of the book is that the real estate activities of the wealthy in Teton County (often made with an explicit or implicit appeal to conservation and environmental interests) have made life much harder for the less-well-off. Another key point is that the wealthy of the county are much more interested and involved in "gilded philanthropy" than structural change. Given the importance of these points to the thrust of the book, it is surprising that there is scant analysis as to whether (and to what extent) conservation easements, land trusts, certain environmental restrictions, zoning, and other legal impediments to housing development are wise public policy, if they only serve to inflate land values, driving out working and middle class people. These are the very "structural" questions that require exploration, and deserve a sober analysis of the many tradeoffs required. However, this line of interrogation quickly goes down libertarian pathways; I wonder if the author's choice to leave them unexplored was (to borrow a concept) due to conscious or unconscious bias.
The book is also sorely lacking empirical financial data regarding the condition of the working class in Teton County, which the author frequently suggests are dire. For example, what is the average hourly wage and take-home pay of a housekeeper, nanny, landscaper, or house builder? What are the average rents? How many people are there per household? What are the rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic abuse? How have these changed over time? If the author wants better conditions for the working people of Teton County, which I believe he does, he ought to make it clear just how bad they are to begin with.
I would have liked this book to be a interesting and comprehensive retelling of subject interviews, (with anonymous transcripts provided), and some dry economic and policy analysis. However, it was a mishmash of undergraduate-level journalism, casual conceptualizing/theorizing, with a few charts thrown in. I have no animus against this author, I was just expecting something better.