If you loved
Books like Class
A wickedly funny, unsparing taxonomy of the invisible hierarchies that dictate American life. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Class.
- amused
- cringe-inducing
- intellectually playful
- 01
The Price of Inequality
Joseph E. Stiglitz
A rigorous, eye-opening autopsy of a rigged economic system that leaves you both frustrated and armed with understanding.
- 02
The Rise of the Creative Class
Richard Florida · 2002
An analytical exploration of how creativity became the defining economic and cultural force of modern American society.
- 03
The language of clothes
Alison Lurie
A witty, sharp-eyed decoding of the secret messages we broadcast every time we get dressed.
- 04
Anti-intellectualism in American life
Richard Hofstadter · 1963
A sweeping, sobering diagnosis of America's historical distrust of the mind and the enduring tension between populism and expertise.
- 05
Caste
Isabel Wilkerson
A paradigm-shifting lens that reframes everything you thought you knew about American history and the invisible architecture of power.
- 06
Fashion, culture, and identity
Davis, Fred
A provocative, analytical exploration of the hidden social forces woven into the clothes we wear every day.
- 07
The age of American unreason
Susan Jacoby
A fierce, erudite wake-up call for a culture drowning in infotainment and willful ignorance.
- 08
White trash
Nancy Isenberg
A rigorous, myth-busting excavation of America's deeply entrenched class system that leaves you questioning the very foundation of the American Dream.
- 09
The way we never were
Stephanie Coontz · 1992
A sharp, intellectually satisfying dismantling of the rosy nostalgia surrounding the traditional American family.
- 10
Chavs
Owen Jones
A fiery, eye-opening dismantling of cultural stereotypes that exposes the systemic abandonment of the working class.
- 11
The Tyranny of Merit
Michael J. Sandel
A sobering but necessary dismantling of the idea that success is purely self-made, urging a return to the common good.
- 12
Bowling Alone
Robert D. Putnam
A sobering, data-rich diagnosis of modern alienation that explores how we lost our communal bonds and why we desperately need them back.
