Those who own and run us

See:

https://www.americanrulingclass.com/

and:

laphamsquarterly.org

On Aug. 1, the Criterion Channel will begin streaming the award-winning 2005 dramatic-

documentary-musical The American Ruling Class. Written by and starring Lewis Lapham, the

iconic longtime editor of Harper’s Magazine, directed and edited by John Kirby, and produced

by Libby Handros, the film became a festival favorite thanks to the frank, original, and hilarious

way it explores the typically dark themes of money, class, privilege, and power in modern-day

America.

The film follows two fictional Yale grads as Lapham, playing himself, takes them on a tour of the

corridors of power while they decide if they are going to rule the world … or save it. The young

men are escorted through a variety of Fortune 500 boardrooms, high-profile philanthropic

organizations, top-tier society dinners, and even Pentagon press briefings. Along the way, they

meet and chat with a long list of real-life luminaries, including Robert Altman, former Secretary

of State James Baker, former Senator Bill Bradley, former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown,

Walter Cronkite, author/journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, folk singer Pete Seeger, then-New York

Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., and Kurt Vonnegut.

“Though our list of interviewees included both those who considered themselves Democrats

and those who identified as Republicans, we noticed little real difference in their general

outlook on policy matters,” says Kirby. “And interestingly, they all made the same claim: ‘There

is no such thing as a ruling class in America.’ To spice things up and have some fun, we decided

to go beyond the standard documentary format. Producer Libby Handros and I hit upon what

we think is an interesting new genre: the ‘dramatic-documentary-musical.’”

“The Criterion Channel is the streaming service for those who love film, and we are honored

that the prestigious Channel’s curators have deemed The American Ruling Class worthy,” says

Handros. “Making this film and taking it to festivals around the world was an unforgettable and

extremely eye-opening experience. This film was Lewis’s baby, and I so badly wish he were still

alive to see it on Criterion.”

Lapham passed away in 2024; The American Ruling Class also features the final film

appearances of Oscar-winning director Robert Altman and Slaughterhouse Five author Kurt

Vonnegut, as well as the first big-screen appearance of hip-hop star Azealia Banks.

Selected quotes from the film:

“The ruling class is the rich, who really command our industry, our commerce and our finance,

and those people are so able to manipulate our democracy that they really control the

democracy.” —Walter Cronkite

“To what end the genius of the Wall Street banks and the force of the Pentagon’s colossal

weapons? Where does America discover the wisdom to play with its wonderful toys? The

questions touch on the character of the American ruling class. And if they’re hard to answer, it’s

because we like to pretend that no such thing as a ruling class has ever darkened an American

shore — or danced by the light of an American moon.” —Lewis Lapham

“Of course there’s a ruling class, and it’s based on money. It’s a very simple problem: You can

buy a jet plane of your own, or you can buy a president.” —Kurt Vonnegut

Selected Reviews:

“Part Monty Python, part Michael Moore, The American Ruling Class is an entertaining clarion

call for all citizens to consider who has power, how they acquired it, and most importantly, how

they keep it.” —Kino Lorber

“Kirby approaches the topic in a light, entertaining manner that holds viewer interest...

Recommended for audiences concerned with our future and how others see us.” —Library

Journal

“John Kirby’s astonishing documentary/drama/musical (yes, really) … also serves as a call to

arms for everyone to think about how their actions will affect the future in which we live.

Narrated and written by the wonderful, laconic Lewis Lapham, this should not be

missed.” —The London Observer

“While fooling around with my TV, seeking out the Cubs-Sox ball game, I accidentally

encountered a remarkable and revelatory documentary. The American Ruling Class KO’d me,

telling ‘ordinary’ citizens who it is — or what means are used — to run our ‘democratic’ society.

The mentor of two of the ‘heirs’ just out of Yale University was Lewis Lapham, the most hip and

perceptive editor of all our monthlies. It is an astonishing program — but, more important, tells

us who really runs things. P.S. I missed the Cubs-Sox game, nothing was lost, much was

gained.” —Studs Terkel

“[A] satirical tour thru the corridors of power with Lewis Lapham... The film takes on our

political and financial elites, the top of America’s food chain, but it’s all for a purpose: to remind

us of those who are struggling just to make ends meet.” —Bill Moyers

“[An] entertaining documentary, The American Ruling Class offers a guided safari through the

tribal haunts of the power elite.” —Vanity Fair

“That unusual animal, the political documentary with high-wattage star power.” —Variety

“I know we’re not supposed to have favorites, but I’ve seen this movie twice and I love

it.” —Tribeca Film Festival cofounder Jane Rosenthal, quoted in The New York Times.

Awards and Accolades:

Official Selection at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival; won Best New York Documentary —

Special Jury Mention

Official Selection at the 2005 Columbus International Film & Video Festival; won the

Silver Chris Award 

Official Selection at the 2005 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Official Selection at the 2005 Woodstock Film Festival

Press contact: Libby Handros,  lhandros@aol.com

Some real and movie time with Pete Seeger

In the late spring of 1970, a group of about a dozen of us (I was along for the ride with a girlfriend of the time) spent a few hours with the mellow-voiced Peter Seeger at his 17-acre  rustic homestead, in Beacon, N.Y., on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. It had been a lush,  warm spring, famous for anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. We had a cookout, at which Seeger was an affable host. He, of course, sang and played the five-string banjo, and a few others joined in making music.

Way down below on the river was a sloop that he owned that he was using in the early stages of leading a campaign to  stop the likes of General Electric and other organizations from dumping toxins (some carcinogenic) into the river (which  that day, despite its poisons, looked like 18th Century painting of the Rhine. Gorgeous!). It seems astonishing now to think of what we dumped into our public water, both as individuals and as institutions.

I generally disliked folk songs back then -- the lyrics seemed too sentimental and sometimes far too preachy and the tunes  repetitive and clunky. I find them easier to take these days because I hear them as part of the broad flow of history. Or maybe I'm just getting hard of hearing....

Meanwhile, take a look at this segment of the very funny and sad movie The American Ruling Class. In it, Pete Seeger is walking, banjoing and singing down a road in what seems to be a very pastoral part of Greenwich, Conn., a capital of the sometimes rapacious capitalism that the old leftie hated. I think it's pretty funny, as is much of the movie, directed by John Kirby, produced by Libby Handros and with writer/editor Lewis Lapham as the master of ceremonies. He takes us to a lot of other celebrities commenting on American society in the years before the Great Crash of 2008.

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