I'd recommend Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the 21st Century' if you're into the deep economics side of all this. Its a bit dense, but really hammers home the point that the period from ~1940 - 1980 in the US was the ONLY period where wealth inequality was declining and therefore it was easier for people to believe that we lived in a meritocracy of some kind where 'adding value' at work actually did lead to added wages. That period has ended, and now inequality and trickle-up economics are reaching all time highs, with no apparent limit in sight.