5 Books by Stephen Birmingham
Requirements: EPUB/MOBI Reader, 27.9 MB
Overview: Stephen Birmingham (1929–2015) was an American author of more than thirty books. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he graduated from Williams College in 1953 and taught writing at the University of Cincinnati. Birmingham’s work focuses on the upper class in America. He’s written about the African American elite in Certain People and prominent Jewish society in Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: The Story of America’s Sephardic Elite, and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews. His work also encompasses several novels including The Auerbach Will, The LeBaron Secret, Shades of Fortune, and The Rothman Scandal, and other non-fiction titles such as California Rich, The Grandes Dames, and Life at the Dakota: New York’s Most Unusual Address.
Genre: Non-Fiction | History
California Rich
Since the Gold Rush, California has represented a land of opportunity and bounty for a special breed of Americans. Heading west in pursuit of sunshine, riches, and elusive dreams, the early mavericks of California set out to make their fortunes–and often succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Prospectors became oil tycoons, squatters became cattle barons, and farmers’ wives became grandes dames of a new rough-hewn society.
In California Rich Stephen Birmingham explores this fascinating social history, showing how the ruling class of California was born, and how it evolved a lifestyle that continues to fascinate the world. Its colorful array of characters include: the despotic William Randolph Hearst, renowned for treating kings and copyboys with equal disdain; Governor Leland Stanford , who shamelessly used politics for the profit of his railroad; and the fiery James Irvine, who attended business meetings accompanied by an entire pack of hunting dogs.
In exploring how these self-made millionaires acquired their money—and what they did with it—Birmingham provides a glimpse of the customs and quirks of California wealth, shedding light on how the state came to symbolize the easy, opulent life, that still entices seekers of fame and fortune today.
Certain People: America’s Black Elite
The author of “Our Crowd” takes readers inside the gossip-tinged world of the 1970s Black elite, one obsessed with history, standing and appearance.
America’s Secret Aristocracy
America’s Secret Aristocracy is a report from inside the shush-shush inner circle of America’s upper crust. Full of eccentric family members and well-sourced gossip, bestselling writer Stephen Birmingham spins an entertaining social history.
The Right Places
The Right Places is Stephen Birmingham’s witty 1973 exploration of where the other half lives—the other half being the elite, of course. The legendary chronicler of the rich shows that the wealthy reside well beyond the tony New York suburbs: the tide of money has reached such far-flung places as Sun Valley, Idaho, and Kansas City, Missouri.
The Golden Dream: Suburbia in the 1970s
In this chatty, anecdotal, and often ironic inquiry, Stephen Birmingham investigates the nesting habits, enjoyments, and frustrations of American suburban life in the Seventies. He explores the social organism that is the American suburb—from Scottsdale Arizona, and Salt Lake City’s suburbs, to New York’s Westchester County and the suburbs surrounding the great industrial cities that fringe the Great Lakes. He has talked with householders great and small and gleaned their intensely personal views of the suburban experience: what they like, what they lament, what they fear. Much of what he records is agreeable gossip—as in his account of the relationship between the Pocantico Hills Rockefellers and the Greenwich Rockefellers; some is acute social criticism.
Almost without exception, the suburbanites came to the suburbs with a dream. The reality they found was often less than what they envisioned, but occasionally it was more. Most have had to strike a compromise between the dream and the reality, the swimming pool and manicured lawn and soaring property tax, good public schools and out-of-sight school taxes. This compromise in its various manifestations, and the related problems of status, add a depth of perspective to a book that oozes the fun and charm of the Seventies.
Download Instructions:
Uploaded
