Generation Wealth: Generation Wealth

Book is amazing and even better as a “partner” to the film. Amazon unfortunately don’t really give a s**** and the book was not packaged properly, ripped open on arrival with damage to the cover. I really couldn’t be bothered to return it, and wanted to start enjoying the content straight away. My copy looks second hand already and I’ve had it 5 minutes. Sort it out Amazon, try harder.

A superb piece of work by a photographer with a long term vision of her work, the work she produces says so much about contemporary society. Documentary photography can often fall into cliches of relentless images of poverty. Greenfield wisely looks at what the opposite of poverty is and what so many spend their time trying to achieve or aspire to; wealth. In combination with the documentary she dissects the damage that the last 25 years or so has done.

Beautiful coffee table book - one you’ll actually read!

Love love love this book, it’s huge, it’s riveting and thought provoking

Bought it to remind me the superb documentary I saw on prime.

Lauren Greenfield has published a coffee table book compilation of her photograph and video work done since the late 1980's. She has followed the idea of wealth - who has it, who wants it, who earns it, who inherits it - for the past 30 or so years. Her work has been displayed in museums and art galleries and on film. Perhaps her most famous piece is a movie called "The Queen of Versailles", a grotesque but strangely charming look at a couple who is building their "dream home" in Florida. The husband and his trophy-wife have about eleventy-seven children, all cared for by their own nannies, while the mother shops maniacally, and the father hides in his study, doing business. The documentary is viewable on Amazon, and Greenfield includes stills from the movie.But Greenfield looks at many other groups of the already-wealthy, as well as those who seek wealth. Does wealth confer class? Sometimes, if the definition of "class" is a "grill" of diamonds in a person's mouth, it does. Lauren Greenfield is fairly quiet on the definition of "wealth" and the ramifications of the acquisition and holding of wealth. Many of the people in her pictures look a bit sad - or is that my projection? I don't know and Greenfield doesn't follow up on many of the people in the photographs. That's okay, wealth - like fame - is often fleeting...By the way, this is a very, VERY large book.

As thick as a metro phone book this features images and interviews with youths who have been exposed to wealth at an early age and it may have altered their comprehension of reality. Can only wonder about how they will exist when they grow up, unless their parents will always provide for them. Surreal. Swearing, bare skin.

This is quite a tome, and I don't just mean the size, although the size should definitely be mentioned. It's a coffee table book, and you need quite a sturdy coffe table for it. Beautifully produced and full of illustrations, this book takes the breath away. If you're interested in culture, this is something to cherish. I haven't gone through all of it yet, just started reading, and I must say it's not just about the hundreds of great photos. The text gives you a lot to think about too. I'm doing research on fame and this ties very well with that. I'm full of admiration for both the author and the publisher for putting together something as amazing as this. It's totally worth the price, you will need a LOT of time to get through it.