The Quiet Rise of the American Upper-Middle Class

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Richard V. Reeves's Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It. It is reprinted here with permission. Drawing class distinctions feels almost un-American. The nation's self-image is of a classless society, one in which every individual is of equal moral worth, regardless of his or her economic status. This is how the world sees the United States, too ...