Penguin Books Australia

Forget the 1 per cent: it's time to focus on the wealthiest 0.1 per cent who are outpacing the rest of use at breakneck speed. There has always been a gap between rich and poor, but over the last few decades what it means to be rich has changed dramatically. What's changed is more than numbers. Instead of inheritance, today's colossal fortunes have been amassed by a new transglobal class of self-made oligarchs. But who are they and how did they do it - and as the chasm between the super-rich and everyone else deepens, is there anything we can do about it?

Cracking open this tight-knit world is Chrystia Freeland. From Davos to Dubai, she has reported on these new super elites for the last two decade. Grounding her interviews in the economics and history of modern capitalism, Freeland shows us the new wealth and its consequences: whether it's the internal Citigroup memo that urges clients to design portfolios for the international 'Plutonomy' rather than nations, $3,000,000 banker's birthday parties or the extent of the discreet but phenomenal wealth of the 'red oligarchs', China's new ruling political class.

A consummate journalist and industry specialist, Chrystia Freeland dissects the lives of the world's wealthiest individuals with intelligence, realism and deep insight. Alarmingly insightful and refreshingly non-partisan, Plutocrats is the missing piece in our political conversation.