Richistan: a Journey Through the 21st-Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich Robert Frank Piatkus Books, 256pp, £12.99

Forget Paris Hilton, wealth is changing. Tim Blixseth is an American billionaire workaholic who loathes being called “rich”. He dresses more surf dude than timber tycoon, drinks morning coffee at Starbucks and loves surprising the needy with gifts. According to the Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank, Blixseth is one of the better-off residents of “Richistan”, a booming virtual country of the super-wealthy built on the boiling stock markets of recent years.

There are now nine million millionaire households in America, more than twice as many as in 1995. Via butler schools, boat shows and psychologists’ classes for young Richistanis on how not to squander fortunes, Frank vividly captures the frenetic lives of today’s wealthy.

Richistan shapes the aspirations of ordinary Americans who struggle to keep up – working harder, taking on more debt, feeling less happy. Frank writes provocatively about the radical possibilities of a new left-leaning political outlook among wealthier Richistanis, and an emerging philanthropy. As Richistan goes global, Frank is optimistic that Richistanis will increasingly realise that they have responsibilities to the rest of humanity.

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