Old Money: The Mythology of Wealth in America

by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr.

This insider's look at inherited wealth in the United States explores the complex meanings of money and success in American sociey with a new introduction that examinies whether America's privileged class will be willing or able to play a leadership role in the twenty-first century.

Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Genres: History, Sociology, Economics, Nonfiction, American, Finance, American History

309 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 1988

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revelatory and haunting. An important social document from a social insider. I can go on and on about this book. Aldrich sets out to define the ethos and "social imagination" of old money, especially as it contrasts with the entrepreneurial imagination and bottom-line thinking of Market Man. In doing so he examines the ideals of the class (virtue divorced from the economic), the "ordeals" designed to prevent the beneficiaries of old money from getting spoiled rotten (boarding school, war, heroic encounters with nature), the defining rituals or the "old-money curriculum" (The Fay School, St. Paul's School, Harvard, the Porcellian Club, a "seat" on the borad, etc.) through which non-economic virtue is instilled. He examines, too--and here's the genius of Aldrich's book--the various ways in which the beneficiaries of old money can either succeed or fail to live up to the values to which the class aspires. One can "sell out" by running a campaign calculated to appeal to the entrepreneurial imagination (George W. Bush); one can get spoiled rotten (Tom Buchanan); one can degenerate into metaphysical weightlessness. These are pitfalls to be avoided. Aldrich goes on to describe the intramural scrimmages between the "patrician" (the private steward of inherited trust) and the less common "aristocrat" (the public avatar of inherited wealth)--think Teddy Roosevelt. Aldrich's evocations of the New England boarding school (designed to instill a sense of Periclean citizenship and whole roundedness, rather than market-driven "base specialization") and the old-money gentleman's clubs of the 1950s (with their rarefied sense of "beloning-ness") mark special landmarks in the lives of the beneficiaries of America's old money wealth. The book concentrates on the old WASP establishment--a group that has lost the power it once occupied in American life and society. To explain this Aldrich points to their damning tendency to conceive of themselves as an ethnic rather than a merely social class.

What makes this book so haunting, though, is the way it forces readers who don't belong to Aldrich's social class (everyone, really) to re-evaluate the effect the market has had on their moral and metaphysical makeup. He shows one how dominated "striving," lapel-clutching, elbow-pushing middle-class man's imagination and moral presuppositions are by the rhythms and ethos of the market place. Old money's central claim is that the beneficiaries of its privilege can go on to cultivate a set of values totally divorced from enterprising, self-promoting, self-made, opportunistic, competitive, profit-driven values of market man. Removed from the "vulgarities" of the market place (its calculation, its ruthless individualism, its commodification of the "self," its blindness to non-economic values, its impatience for the less-than-perfect (think Martha Stewart)), old money families like to think of themselves as having the opportunity to develop "genuine" social ties and social values (friendships, inter-generational and "cousinly" families) that are not marred by the middle-class, market-tainted versions of those relationships. And they believe that the cultivation of these values will create men and women with a superior moral fiber from which all will eventually benefit (through their morally informed example and philanthropy). Old money sees itself as the trustee and steward of America's natural and cultural treasures, elevated to the height of history, above the emphemeralities of the market place, where it can pursue the version of the good life it most prefers .

The cliches of the diatribes launched at old money (weak, stupid, without wants, degenerate) are examined as criticisms of an entrepreneurial imagination and pitfalls for old money to avoid.

[Samsara Voile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Describes in nuance the psychology of the inheriting class which is largely unknown to Americans. Excellent insights.

[Gregg · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is terrible. There are not many books I start but don’t finish. This is one of them. I honestly do not know what this is. Is it a revisionist history? An apology? A bio/auto bio? Frankly, this book seems to have been written by someone born into wealth and upper class that has not really accomplished anything so he took a stab at writing—then wrote about what he knew because it was the path of least resistance. This book does not add much to the social discourse and I feel the time I invested in it was wasted.

[Debra Lemke · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the lives of those born rich.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A boarding school is a nine-month, twenty-four-hour-a-day agon of personal performance. It's not enough to play good football of field hockey; you also have to play squash well, and soccer well, and basketball well. It's not enough to capture Veronica for the school prom or Archie for a date at the pizza place; you also have to be popular and respected by all the rest of the boys and girls, the teachers, the rector -- and, so far as is possible, to show yourself in the favor of the gods as well. It's not enough to be good at math and science; you also have to be good at English and history and languages -- and write for the literary magazine, and perform in the school string quartet, and debate in interscholastic debating contests, and tutor kids less 'advantaged' than yourself, and stun your friends with your wit, and charm your teachers, and fuck off with panache, and show school spirit, and get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton." (150-151)

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the blend of personal observation and analysis Nelson brought to this topic. I have long been fascinated by the concepts he deals with, of money held by families rather than individuals, and of the social components of such money.

[Cheyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nelson Aldrich Jr. (The grandson of the famous Rhode Island senator Nelson Aldrich) presents a detailed and very personal account of his life experiences growing up in an old money family, and being surrounded by other old money families. A then frequent contributor to the formerly WASP tailored The Atlantic magazine (among others), Aldrich was known for his keen observations of old money circles and families, and other musings on their culture. A sufficient summation of his musings about his class can be found in this article: https://www.ivy-style.com/thirty-year....

In the book “Old Money,” Aldrich begins by telling us that the WASP is no longer a class (which was it’s truest form) but now merely an ethnic group. The classes culture, which, after a long illness, died – “whereupon it was transfigured as a lifestyle commodity, elements of which you’ll find on sale at your nearest Ralph Lauren outlet.” Aldrich introduces a few then prominent old money families, and frequently alludes back to them and their stories throughout the rest of the book to serve as examples of how this class once was.

The book is not a celebration of the WASP ethnicity, but rather the values and virtues that these mostly WASP old money families embodied. “After their settings, the classiest acts by which the old rich reveal themselves are matters of an attractive personal presence: postures, demeanor, gestures, speech, manners, and other clues of other personality and character that tell those of us who are interested in putting people in the places where, socially speaking, they belong.” Just as in the article I linked above, Aldrich comments on just how true old money individuals compose themselves, and what makes them so attractive to others. Aldrich acknowledges the downsides of going through life “having it made,” and details the pitfalls and failings of some of the weaker inheritors of old money. He has a great deal of reverence for FDR, and dates the heyday of old money from 1878 – 1945 (if I remember correctly). He also speaks frequently of how the elite New England preparatory schools (mostly used to) imbue virtue into their pupils, which give way to the aforementioned qualities they are so revered for. The book is a serious work, and not spiteful of other groups or ethnicity in the least. It is about class and culture, which make old money… old money. Aldrich makes many novel points (at least to those of us who aren’t old money) which are quite interesting, and should be noted by anyone who wishes to carry themselves like our once great mostly WASP aristocratic class.

Because this book is no longer in print, you are almost guaranteed to find a used copy. I cannot stand when there are highlights or notes in books, but this time I had to settle for a less-than-adequate product. Old money is elusive, about just as elusive as finding a fair, unaltered copy of this book.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this book has invaluable insight if you're interested in studies of the American class system. Aldrich had obviously thought a lot about it and was very aware of the issues at hand.

I have criticisms, though. The book could have used a tighter edit. He uses the word "invidious" at least once every few pages, and I'm not convinced it was the right word to use every time. Also he seems to have added some arbitrary metaphors and organization throughout. The pseudo-academic writing style can be a little exhausting after a while.

This isn't Paul Fussell, but if you're interested in the subject matter it's absolutely worth a read -- still very interesting and informative.

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book a low rating because I couldn't get through it. I wanted to because it would seem important to understand economically, sociologically and culturally but for some reason I just couldn't cut through the dense, somewhat circular and repetitious style of his writing and finally gave up struggling with it.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very well written book, but I skimmed through most of it because the content just wasn't interesting to me.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how much the author despises Market Man and his entrepreneurial imagination.

[Syed Emir Ashman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A peculiar book with an interesting subject-matter. Entertainingly written.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another life

[John Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes the privileges, pitfalls, rituals, and worldview of America's old- money elite - those fortunate few whose families have been wealthy for at least several generations, enabling the money to become institutionalized and its holders to be freed from the concerns that consume the lives of their less entitled compatriots. The author is an insider - the descendant of a Gilded Age business tycoon who ensured his family would be able to float above the concerns of ordinary people for generations to come - and his inside knowledge is is obvious in the pages of this book. At the same time, the author is blinkered. He seems a little too unforgiving of his family's "founding father," whose sharp-elbowed business practices allowed him to build the wealth which ensured his descendants wouldn't have to do the same thing, and enabled the author to look down on him in lofty condescension. Politically, the author is much closer to the hard left than the center, which also affects his analysis. He has little sense of what conservatism is - i.e. seeking to conserve what is best about society, while working to improve its flaws in a careful and deliberate manner - and therefore a flawed understanding of the inherently conservative class from which he sprung.

This book was published in 1988. The old-money class was on its last legs by then, and its decline has only accelerated since then. Business has always been the scene of creative destruction, with the largest fortunes accumulated in each generation outstripping those of prior generations. Politics, ostensibly the bastion of the publicly spirited, largely has been taken over by acquisitive, self-interested types such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and Barack and Michelle Obama. Even leaders of universities and charitable foundations seem to be more interested in virtue signaling and following the herd than in transmitting American culture to future generations, hopefully with a few improvements thrown in. Perhaps this sea change has been due to a reduced desire on the part of the new rich to adopt the customs and mindset of the old rich, thereby reducing the cultural power of the latter. Perhaps there also are other factors at play. A second edition of this book addressing the current status of the old money class and the extent to which it even remains a separate class (separate and apart from those who simply are rich) would be an interesting undertaking.

[Kiesha Encarnacion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this because Mina Le quoted this book several times in an amazing thinkpiece on old money style in the industry. Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. Does share a lot of expected but somehow surprising insight on generational wealth, the great influence they have on systems and communities as well as unintentionally the psychology of someone who was born into it. He also shares a wealth of literature on the same topic.

Never read a book on this niche academic topic. Also took me awhile to finish the whole book, but nonetheless interesting. Best read in an academic context and maybe brush up a little on American history and politics.

[letigreenpapier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does quite a good job at showing and explaining the significance of some social signifiers of the "old money" class, however in that description, several problems emerge:

First of all, the analysis of what Aldrich calls "social imagination" is always cut short by some rather irrelevant anecdote about some member of that class and the potential questions surrounding this institution (does it definitively exist? has there been an increase or decrease in members? how do "admissions" into the class function?) are not really answered. The whole book reads rather like an unedited dossier that barely sketches out the imagined reality of 'old money' and only tangentially moves into a mode of cultural criticism or political economy.

Secondly, the author, himself a member of the Rhode Island-based Aldrich family, seems to hold what I'd call a "noble savage" view of the old rich. It is correct that he is merely trying to describe what the social imagination deems the virtues of this patrician class, but he severely falls short in comparing this self-image with the reality of the lives of many of the heirs of these estates.

Despite this, there are some pretty interesting stories and curious cases contained in this book, and even though I felt most of the writing was quite dry, Aldrich manages to sneak a little humor into his book every now and then.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendously insightful.