I loved the way Taylor Caldwell covered the rich and elite in her historical novel Captains and The Kings she used to expose The Counsil on Foreign Relations ("Council on Foreign Studies" in her novel). The CFR didn't exist in that time but the Roundtable groups from which it sprang from existed and is somewhat also covered in the novel. Here is a sampling of of description of the CFR
Rory knew that the Committee for Foreign Studies had some three hundred members in nearly every country in the world, all bankers or industrialists, politicians and financiers, and that they had meeting places in every capital and that those meetings were discreet and unostentatious and that the general public was unaware of them. The meeting place in London was an old and decorous mansion of gray stone and ostensibly owned by a British banker who lived alone and was reputed to be a bachelor by his neighbors. None of these men sought publicity, and lived private lives which were known for philanthropy and quiet reserved living with their families. All had "private" fortunes, or let it be casually known that they were engaged in the professions, dabbled occasionally and mildly in politics, and art, or did "a little banki the family name, you know." Many of them had sons in government, in'dustry, the Navy or the Armv, or in the professions. Some of them were openly known as impressive financiers, especially in America where the possession of wealth was regarded as akin to holiness, and in Zurich, where the same opinion prevailed. But none really knew what they
were, except themselves. They controlled interests in almost all the important newspapers in the world, appointed writers for those newspapers, and editors, directed editorial policy. They were the real owners of publishing houses, of magazines, of all the media that guided public information. They were the ones who really appointed the Cabinets of Presidents, and the Ministers to government in nearly all other countries. They controlled elections, built up their candidates, financed them, everywhere in the world. Any presumptuous or intrepid man who did not meet with their approval was lampooned in the press, discreetly libeled, or "exposed." The politicians, themselves, were often quite unaware of who had advanced or destroyed them. Even Presidents did not always know. Kings and emperors sometimes were vaguely aware of the momentous shadow that hung over their thrones and decided the destinies of their nations, and many were quite convinced that should they denounce that shadow they would be exiled, or perhaps even assassinated. The grip on events was not iron, but it was equally pervasive and persuasive, as soft and silent as mist which concealed invincible armies. They were never quoted in the press concerning politics or wars or other policies. There was never any public opinion except through their mannikins, who were excellently chosen for their popularity with the people…
Rory knew all about this Invisible Government which decided the destinies of nations, their survival or their obliteration, for his father had told him.
Moreover, he had taken Political Science in college, which, while it did not reveal the enemies of mankind and their peace and security, hinted at it. "The
world really exists on money and on nothing else," a professor had told his students. "This is a fact of human existence which must be acknowledged, however we might wish to protest. Some call manifestations of it commerce. Some call it politics. Some call it 'spontaneous movements of the People.' Some call it 'revolutionary change of governments.' Some call it holy wars in behalf of freedom. But all these things are implacably plotted by the men who really rule us, and not our ostensible elected administrations. It is a matter of money. Even the most unworldly of idealists comes face to face with that fact
eventually. If he can be used he will be financed. He then deludes himself that 'worthy and conpassionate persons, or whatever,' have come to his aid in the Name of the People. If he does not meet with approval, if he honestly believes that there should be some other motivation for the energies of man besides simple greed--if he believes that the nature of man can be exalted to heroic proportions--then he is destroyed by public laughter and public ignominy and it is suggested that he is insane. If he is an authentic hero his fate is much worse: obscurity. His name will never be mentioned in the public means of communication. What he writes and says will never again be known by the people. He is consigned to Limbo."