“The Great Gatsby” captures the decadent wealth of 1920s America. Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, throws lavish parties all for one reason—to reclaim Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby’s obsession creates a portrait of wild extravagance and corrupted dreams.
The book illustrates the dark side of greed and ambition, showing how ruthless desire for money and status can’t buy happiness or love. Gatsby’s tragedy becomes clear in a vivid depiction of a society obsessed by wealth and appearances.
By far one of the most famous tales in literature, Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” offers a timeless portrayal of greed. Ebenezer Scrooge, the selfish miser, hoards his wealth at the expense of everyone around him.
Ghostly visitors force Scrooge to witness the damage his greed causes, prompting a powerful exploration of selfishness and redemption. At its heart, the story reveals that human connection and generosity provide far greater rewards than wealth.
Dickens delivers this moral vividly through the memorable transformations in Scrooge’s character.
Tom Wolfe captured 1980s New York City perfectly in “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Sherman McCoy, a wealthy bond trader living the high life, finds himself in trouble after a single wrong decision.
Wealth, racial divisions, and ambition drive events toward dramatic consequences for everyone involved. Wolfe’s novel exposes greed in the financial sector, politics, and media, highlighting how reckless pursuit of power can destroy lives and corrupt society.
McCoy’s downfall illustrates the fragility beneath glittering success.
Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho” epitomizes cold, sociopathic greed among Wall Street elites of the 1980s. Bateman seems a polished professional living an affluent life in Manhattan, but beneath his charming exterior lies monstrous behavior fueled by vicious consumerism.
Ellis portrays Bateman’s depthless materialism through satirical extremes, connecting violent impulses to emptiness behind money-driven values.
The novel combines dark satire, disturbing details, and biting commentary to criticize capitalism’s destructive obsession with greed, luxury, and status.
“Oil!” dives deeply into the ruthless world of early 20th-century petroleum industry in America. Sinclair examines how greed corrupts morality, politics, and relationships. Main characters experience dramatic transformations caused by unchecked capitalism and thirst for power.
Sinclair focuses on Bunny Ross, idealistic son of an oil tycoon whose journey exposes greed behind the oil boom and its dangerous consequences for workers, families, and society. Sinclair powerfully reveals how corporate greed can shape personal destinies and broader histories.
Belfort’s memoir “The Wolf of Wall Street” vividly depicts the real-life excesses of 1990s Wall Street traders. Belfort recounts how greed, scams, illegal trades, and wild parties dominated his world, leading him to enormous wealth and eventual disgrace.
His detailed narrative doesn’t hold back from describing the decadence and recklessness of greed-driven lifestyles.
Through entertaining but shocking stories, Belfort shows readers the destructive cycle of relentless ambition, money hunger, and moral bankruptcy that ultimately destroys lives.
Anthony Trollope’s classic “The Way We Live Now” exposes deceit and greed in Victorian society through Augustus Melmotte, a flamboyant and mysterious financier arriving in London.
Melmotte quickly charms high society with risky, hollow business schemes and elaborate promises, drawing people into an obsession with speculative wealth.
The novel satirizes how greed blinds even supposedly respectable upper classes, prompting readers to question the integrity beneath their world. Trollope’s keen social observations make greed’s devastating consequences compellingly clear.
In “McTeague,” Norris presents a gritty story of greed and obsession in working-class San Francisco.
Centred on an amateur dentist named McTeague, whose marriage to Trina spirals into suspicion and violence over her lottery winnings, the novel explores how desire for money poisons relationships.
The characters’ lives unravel dramatically, as greed tragically blinds them to reality. Norris uses vivid and dramatic storytelling to impress upon readers how destructive greed can become, robbing people of humanity itself.
Steinbeck’s “The Pearl” opens with poor fisherman Kino discovering an exquisite pearl, dubbed the “Pearl of the World,” whose promise of wealth changes their entire village overnight. However, Kino soon realizes greed and envy drive dangerous consequences surrounding his prize.
Steinbeck targets human nature itself as greed corrupts ordinary lives with jealousy, suspicion, and tragedy bubbling beneath serene appearances. This short, powerful tale emphasizes natural beauty and simplicity bending tragically under greed’s sinister forces.
Forster’s “Howards End” provides sharp commentary on early 20th-century English class divides and greed. It revolves around three families whose lives intertwine because of economic ambitions and inherited wealth.
Money and property become central drivers of character decisions, conflict, and tragedy. The novel shows greed’s hidden impact on moral character, while raising questions about whether wealth truly satisfies deeper human needs.
Forster effectively illustrates how greed alienates people from genuine connection, intimacy, and happiness.
In “The Financier,” Dreiser paints an absorbing portrait of Frank Cowperwood, a shrewd and ambitious financial genius inspired by real-life financier Charles Yerkes.
Driven by ruthless desire for wealth, power, and influence, Cowperwood rises rapidly through risky schemes and clever manipulation. Dreiser closely examines how greed affects Cowperwood’s morality, relationships, and reputation.
The novel provides a realistic look at how financial success achieved simultaneously through brilliance and corruption ultimately defines and destroys one’s life.
Lanchester’s “Capital” vividly portrays modern London transformed by speculative money, greed, and property obsession. The residents of Pepys Road find their quiet street mired in intrigue as escalating property values, ambition, and envy disrupt their varied lives.
Lanchester gives sharp social insights through characters who embody greed’s subtle and overt consequences.
The novel accurately reflects contemporary city’s shifting landscape, exploring how insatiable desires for wealth and status affect communities and individuals at every level.
“Cosmopolis” follows billionaire Eric Packer on a surreal limo journey across Manhattan, during which he gambles on currency markets and confronts his own empty soul.
DeLillo explores the hollow core of greed and financial speculation, presenting a futuristic and absurd world dominated by markets, power, and surface appearances.
Packer’s isolated existence perfectly symbolizes greed’s potential to cause disconnection, alienation, and spiritual emptiness. This concise and provocative novel effectively captures excessive modern capitalism through DeLillo’s sharp, satirical vision.
Cartwright’s novel explores the tangled finances, greed, and complexity of modern banking through the fall of a prestigious private bank run by the Trevelyan family. The bank’s troubles expose hidden levels of greed and ambition that span generations and continents.
Cartwright examines interconnected lives profoundly influenced by the ruthless pursuit of financial success.
Filled with richly-drawn characters, the book painfully reveals how greed ripples outward, impacting relationships, ethics, and perceptions of self-worth in a world dominated by financial ambition.
Henwood’s nonfiction analysis in “Wall Street” offers a precise view into America’s financial nerve center. Beyond the numbers and transactions, Henwood demystifies how greed motivates Wall Street’s complex machinery.
He examines the financial sector’s power, criticizing its influence on politics, culture, and ordinary lives.
The book provides clear explanations about how speculative greed shapes markets, economies, and societies—detailing how hidden motives and insatiable desire for profits profoundly impact economic history and individual experiences.