The Rich, The Powerful… The Pointless

BOOK REVIEW

When I picked up The Rich, The Powerful, The Wishful, The Notorious, The Damned, I took a deep breath and thought, Whoa. What exactly am I about to get into?

Michael Wolfe, who has written numerous best-selling and often entertaining books, misses the mark here. This collection of recycled magazine pieces isn’t sharp, insightful, or revealing—it’s a bloated, self-indulgent dud.

Page after page, Wolfe seems less interested in his subjects than in reminding us how close he supposedly was to them. The result? Endless recycled phrases that read like filler, not substance. By the end of each chapter, one thing becomes clear: Wolfe doesn’t particularly like his subjects. In fact, he seems determined to showcase their flaws and amplify their worst traits, as if exposing weakness is his only real purpose.

If you find this confusing, that’s because the book itself is a confusing mess.