The Haves and Have Yachts: An Evening With Evan Osnos

In Cooperation with Bard College Berlin

Globally, and in the U.S. above all, the ultra-wealthy have come to amass enormous influence. The finance and tech sectors have minted new billionaires with great ambitions and visions for politics and society; favorable tax and regulatory systems have allowed the old, preexisting gilded classes to hold onto their wealth and pass it to their descendants. 

Evan Osnos, a staff writer for The New Yorker and co-host of The New Yorker’s Political Scene podcast, will make a rare visit to Berlin for the launch of the German edition of his latest book on this subject, "The Haves and the Have Yachts." This discussion will address how this new global class has emerged and what sort of effect they have on everything from elections to inequality to tax policy and public attitudes towards politics and society.

What are the particular norms, attributes, chief characteristics of this new “gilded age”? How does it intersect with increased alienation and polarization that feed distrust and dissatisfaction with government? Osnos will share insights and anecdotes from this world – from the luxury yachts in the title to a support group for convicted white-collar criminals – and address the immense power a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals have in shaping American politics.

With:

• Evan Osnos, staff writer at The New Yorker and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

Moderation: Joshua Yaffa, Writer-in-Residence at Bard College Berlin and contributing writer at The New Yorker.

The discussion will be followed by a Q&A.

Contact: Deitra Myers, Division European Union and North America, Heinrich Böll Foundation Berlin
E myers@boell.de

Evan Osnos is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He is also co-host of The New Yorker’s Political Scene podcast and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of four books, including “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China”, which won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book “The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich”, was a New York Times bestseller in 2025.

Joshua Yaffa is Writer-in-Residence at Bard College Berlin. He is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the author of “Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia”, which won the Orwell Prize in 2021.

This event is part of a Bard College Berlin’s and the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s event series, “Writing Democracy: Stories, Ideas, and Arguments On and Off the Page.” The series brings prominent journalists and writers into conversation with a broad audience in Berlin and across Germany to discuss issues of civic and political importance in both Germany and the United States. Through the lens of writing, the series offers a wider exploration of democracy and democratic institutions in a transatlantic context, including politics and society in the U.S. and Europe, the lessons of history, the role of democratic values, and misconceptions on both sides of the Atlantic, all with the aim of strengthening transatlantic ties in a challenging time.

Your Participation in the event

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

Please register in advance. Unfortunately, the number of seats for this event are limited.

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» Livestream

Alternatively, you can follow the event via livestream without registering.