“An entertaining documentary, THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS offers
a guided safari through the tribal haunts of the power elite.”
- James Wolcott, Vanity Fair

“THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS k.o.’d me…a remarkable
and revelatory documentary…an astonishing program”
- Studs Terkel

“Hilarious, coruscating…a master class in master-of-the-universe studies”
- Tait Harlin, New York Magazine

“Divine madness…a documentary version of The Wizard of Oz …
director John Kirby and Lapham attempt to illuminate the heart of darkness
inside the American political-economic machine. What they find ain’t pretty.”
- Matthew Hays, Montreal Mirror

“A very funny and fascinating search for America’s ruling class. 3 1/2 Stars!”
- Mark Rifkin, “This Week in New York”

“A brilliant documentary/comedy, part Monty Python, part Michael Moore; brings to life
the question: Can one join the power elite and yet work for the public interest?”
- Joseph A. Soares, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University,
Author, Power of Privilege: Yale and America’s Elite Colleges

“An amazingly good day for documentaries also sees the premier of John Kirby’s astonishing documentary/drama/musical (yes, really) which 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.”
- Sarah Hughes, The London Observer

“THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS is a crowning achievement of cinematic sociology…
a must-see for those concerned about the future of our economy and social order.”
- Kevin T. Leicht, Professor and Director of the Institute
for Inequality Studies, The University of Iowa, Author,
Post-Industrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle Class Prosperity

“Dramatic, superbly produced and directed, thoughtful and thought provoking,
[THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS] offers a candor rarely glimpsed by ordinary citizens
into who really calls the shots in America during these opening years and
decades of the 21st Century.”
-The Midwest Book Review

“A satirical tour through 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

“THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS is the most cinematically subversive film to come along this decade. Led by the extremely lucid and funny Lewis Lapham, the nation’s number one intellectual treasure, the film takes us on a luminous quest… Director John Kirby has fashioned a sly film; it plays with form, but is populist in outreach, transcending documentary expectations with wit, style and political savvy.”
- Peter Wintonick, Director/Producer, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media