Rich Kids

by John Sedgwick

Based on scores of interviews, these profiles of the children of the rich provide a fresh perspective on famous families, including the Rockefellers, Mellons, Pulitzers, and Pillsburys, and illuminate... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688050115
• ISBN13: 9780688050115
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 329 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

"as seen from the inside" should be the subtitle.

John documents a study of 50 sons and daughters of very wealthy people who left large trust funds to young people he knew in high school. It is a fascinating tour from the inside of that world and has a stunningly simple message, "It depends on you." Leaving your kids a lot of money can turn out to be "the family curse" not unlike your genes that give them pimples, asthma, cancer and Altzheimers, but in this case we can do something about it. Of the 50 men and women John considered in only two cases the heirs were happy and fulfilled as a consequence of their inheritances, but only because of what they had done in life. The money may have helped, but had little to nothing to do with it. In all the other cases he found that the money turned out to just another problem, more fashionable that those most of us have but a problem nonetheless. Money is not happiness. It can help, but it cannot guarantee. Everything in this book rings true and we feel that valuable analytical work could be done on it. The structure may not have an ideal clinical form, but it is sufficiently rich that more can be summarized from it than has the author.