President Clinton's brilliant advisor offers a provocative look at the radical new shape of American politics, revealing how today's anger has grown out of the middle class's betrayal by both political parties in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Charts; graphs; index.

Dream Hoarders sparked a national conversation on the dangerous separation between the upper middle class and everyone else. Now in paperback and newly updated for the age of Trump, Brookings Institution senior fellow Richard Reeves is continuing to challenge the class system in America. In America, everyone knows that the top 1 percent are the villains. The rest of us, the 99 percent—we are the good guys. Not so, argues Reeves. The real class divide is not between the upper class and the upper middle class: it is between the upper middle class and everyone else. The separation of the upper middle class from everyone else is both economic and social, and the practice of “opportunity hoarding”—gaining exclusive access to scarce resources—is especially prevalent among parents who want to perpetuate privilege to the benefit of their children. While many families believe this is just good parenting, it is actually hurting others by reducing their chances of securing these opportunities. There is a glass floor created for each affluent child helped by his or her wealthy, stable family. That glass floor is a glass ceiling for another child. Throughout Dream Hoarders, Reeves explores the creation and perpetuation of opportunity hoarding, and what should be done to stop it, including controversial solutions such as ending legacy admissions to school. He offers specific steps toward reducing inequality and asks the upper middle class to pay for it. Convinced of their merit, members of the upper middle class believes they are entitled to those tax breaks and hoarded opportunities. After all, they aren't the 1 percent. The national obsession with the super rich allows the upper middle class to convince themselves that they are just like the rest of America. In Dream Hoarders, Reeves argues that in many ways, they are worse, and that changes in policy and social conscience are the only way to fix the broken system.

Pollster and senior advisor to Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992, Stanly Greenberg now offers a provocative assessment of the middle class's disillutionment with politics and the two major parties. Greenberg outlines the daunting challenges facing both parties, analyzes the 1994 election upheavals, and offers bold opinions about the upcoming presidential election.

It’s my story, it’s your story, and it’s the story of every middle-class family who has struggled in different phases of their life to live the dream they all see together. We sacrifice our present for a better tomorrow but what if there is no tomorrow. How helpless will you feel when you know that the biggest strength of your life is slowly going away and you can’t do anything? It’s not only about how you lived, but also how you died matters a lot.

'A very personal perspective on what has happened to the middle class in America.'-CHOICE