An Evening with The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos

On Monday, April 20, students, faculty and guests joined Bard College Berlin Writer-in-Residence Joshua Yaffa at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Berlin for a conversation with his colleague, New Yorker staff writer and National Book Award-winning author Evan Osnos, as part of the series “Writing Democracy.” The conversation centered on the recent book by Osnos, The Haves and Have-Yachts, which has now appeared in German translation, and which deals with the mentality and significance of America’s new superrich. As Joshua Yaffa put it, these are not the 1%, but “an infinitesimally smaller subcategory.” A number of the members of this tiny group were present at the 2025 US Presidential inauguration, signaling an historically unprecedented alignment of private wealth with political power.

The American superrich can be identified with one paradigmatic luxury object, the “gigayacht,” bigger than the “megayacht” or the “superyacht.” Such boats are “the most expensive human objects ever made,” and constitute the chief accessories in a status competition based on size: “the metaphors write themselves,” as Osnos observed. The sheer excess embodied by the “gigayacht” represents one of several signs of a “withdrawal from society” on the part of the superrich. Another is the “private concert,” a kind of engagement once only agreed to by “aging crooners,” but now a regular fixture for all famous singers and bands (except for Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen) “at the right price.” A more disturbing pastime exhibited by billionaires is their dedication to preparing sumptuous “doomsday caves” to shelter themselves and their families in the case of a world war, ecological collapse or other catastrophe. “This conversation is going to get dark,” Osnos cautioned. The largescale purchases and practices of the superrich amount to “a gesture against democracy,” a rejection of the idea of “a shared social space” or even a shared human future.

Amidst the bleak implications of what Joshua Yaffa summarized as an “extraordinary, scintillating, titillating, horrifying” book, the discussion with Evan Osnos ranged widely through his experiences as a journalist in the US and China, and his investigation of the history of US inequality. He has examined the notorious “Gilded Age” of the late nineteenth century (Rockefeller opulence pales in comparison to the extravagances of our own era), as well as developments from the late 1970s (the last phase of relative US social equality) to the present day. In discussion with BCB students, Osnos considered the prospects for change.

Responding to a question from Aksharaa Barat (Class of 2029) about the role of white nationalism in inducing working-class voters to support MAGA, Osnos commented that those seeking to monopolize money and power are always very good at deflecting attention toward a “scapegoat.” The allure of this strategy masks desperation for a real alternative. Osnos noted that the voters of the former coal-mining stronghold of West Virginia who opted for Trump in both 2016 and 2024 had also voted overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries.

Martina Pendo Walsh (Class of 2028) asked about the signs of increasing discontent with Trump in the US and how this might alter the role of money in the 2028 election. Osnos responded that, if there were no reforms to the system of campaign financing, the influence of the superrich on the election would likely be even greater. As in Hungary, the challenge to MAGA must be focused on the issue of corruption, although reversal of the destruction wrought by the Trump administration would likely be a long process, requiring vigilant public attention. Such vigilance, he remarked, is undermined by the sheer resilience of belief in “the American dream”: “the best self-branded product in the history of commerce.” 

Rézi Imre (Class of 2028) asked about gender differences in the world of the superrich. Osnos commented that “I use the term man advisedly” in speaking of multibillionaires: “most of these individuals are men, and I believe that if that were not the case, we would not be in the mess we’re in.” The ethos of this group in the face of the probability that extreme inequality will lead to a general catastrophe is literally: “every man for himself.”

A recording of the livestream is available for viewing via the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. The next event in the series “Writing Democracy” will be with Daniel Ziblatt at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung on May 6.
 

Post Date: 04-23-2026