Description
Book SynopsisA richly illustrated romp with America's Gilded Age leisure classand those angling to join it
Mark Twain called it the Gilded Age. Between 1870 and 1900, the United States' population doubled, accompanied by an unparalleled industrial expansion, and an explosion of wealth unlike any the world had ever seen. America was the foremost nation of the world, and New York City was its beating heart. There, the richest and most influentialThomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, Edith Wharton, the Vanderbilts, Andrew Carnegie, and morebecame icons, whose comings and goings were breathlessly reported in the papers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. It was a time of abundance, but also bitter rivalries, in work and play. The Old Money titans found themselves besieged by a vanguard of New Money interlopers eager to gain entrée into their world of formal balls, debutante parties, opera boxes, sailing regattas, and summer gatherings at Newport. Into this morass of money and desire
Trade Review
A new etiquette guide...has just turned up, offering further proof that sliding around the naughty edges of society can be as informative as it is entertaining. -- Alida Becker * The New York Times Books Review *
Everyone followed the rules that Mrs. Astor laid down from the number of courses to be served at dinner to the appropriate time to arrive at the opera. The exteriors of life in this upper echelon are the subject of... What Would Mrs. Astor Do?.This was a society founded on exclusivity, with floods of tears from those who didn't receive an invitation to Mrs. Astor's annual ball. -- Anne de Courcy * The Wall Street Journal *
Tichidelivers a crisp survey of New Yorks upper-class world in the late 19th century, using society maven Caroline Astor as the guide...Presented with a breezy authority that keeps the pages turning,Tichi's book will captivate those interested in a light look at Americas fashionable gentry of eras past. * Publishers Weekly *
