An important new perspective on equality and mobility from one of America’s best-informed and most articulate commentators on that topic. Reeves provocatively turns the current policy debate upside down—not “how do we increase upward mobility?” but “how do we increase downward mobility?” Certain to enliven dinner party conversations among America’s upper-middle class elite—so if you are in that group, this book is a must-read.

—Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University, and author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis

We have met the enemy, and he is us: we who were smart enough to pick the right parents and now occupy the high ground in post-industrial America. Richard Reeves and I differ on specifics, but Dream Hoarders rightly gets to the heart of things: if we treasure America's traditional civic culture and want to see it preserved for future generations, the upper middle class has to recognize how much responsibility it bears for the culture's plight and act accordingly. He makes that case brilliantly and—a tough act to pull off—engagingly.

—Charles Murray, American Enterprise Institute

Richard Reeves has long been one of the most authoritative, insightful, and sage voices on the big questions gripping modern societies. Here he tackles one of the most urgent—inequality and how to solve it—and comes up with serious answers.

—Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

Reading Richard Reeves on social mobility is like going for a good walk: he is bracing, head clearing, and ultimately inspiring. With rigor and wit, his new book shows how millions of successful, hard-working Americans, often with the best of intentions, have helped build a society where birth matters more than brilliance. Impassioned, data-driven, and focused on practical solutions, Dream Hoarders is a fine cure for an age of stale, cynical politics.

—David Rennie, The Economist

Recently, scholars and social activists have set off alarm bells about the rising concentration of income among the top 1 percent. Richard Reeves urges us to turn our attention to a wider slice of affluent Americans—the top fifth—and the result is a devastating empirical portrait of damage done to “the bottom eighty.” Reeves implores well-off Americans to press for institutional and policy reforms that would reduce segregation by class and increase intergenerational mobility. This captivating and stirring book is likely to make many of its readers uncomfortable.

—Janet C. Gornick, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Graduate Center, City University of New York, and Director, Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality

Many of us bemoan the damaging effects of economic inequality. But Richard Reeves has done the hard work of identifying how we recreate inequality from generation to generation. Warning: Reeves’s book will challenge some of your assumptions, no matter what your views are. And he shows how innocent or even admirable actions in particular spheres can reinforce existing hierarchies. Dream Hoarders will shake you up, teach you a lot, and make you think much harder.

—E.J. Dionne Jr., author of Why the Right Went Wrong and Our Divided Political Heart