The New World's earliest Jewish immigrants and their unique, little-known history: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Life at the Dakota.In 1654, twenty-three Jewish families arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) aboard a French privateer. They were the Sephardim, members of a proud orthodox sect that had served as royal advisors and honored professionals under Moorish rule in Spain and Portugal but were then exiled from their homelan...

A quartet of novels from the New York Times–bestselling author of " Our Crowd" and master chronicler of Manhattan's rich, famous, and deceitful.These four gripping novels prove that "when it comes to the folkways of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged, Stephen Birmingham knows what he's talking about" ( Los Angeles Times).Carriage Trade: One of New York's most elegant and exclusive retail establishments, Tarkington'...

A poignant and unforgettable rags-to-riches family saga following three generations of a remarkable clan from downtown ghetto to Park Avenue opulenceMarrying Jack Auerbach was Essie Litsky's salvation, enabling her to break free of her strict Russian-Jewish immigrant parents and escape New York's poor, dirty, overcrowded Lower East Side. Together with her husband, Essie amassed a fortune that dwarfed their wildest dreams: She was living in a grand mansion on Park A...

A memoir by the New York Times–bestselling author and longtime chronicler of America's wealthy elite.Born in Connecticut in 1929 and educated at Williams College, Stephen Birmingham went on to create a literary niche with his numerous nonfiction works about New York's—and the nation's—upper class, particularly focusing on Jewish, African American, and Irish communities, as well as old-money WASPs. He also drew on his "intimate knowledge of the private lives...

A history of the Manhattan building and its famous tenants, from Lauren Bacall to John Lennon, by the New York Times–bestselling author of "Our Crowd".When Singer sewing machine tycoon Edward Clark built a luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side in the late 1800s, it was derisively dubbed "the Dakota" for being as far from the center of the downtown action as its namesake territory on the nation's western frontier. Despite its remo...

The #1 New York Times bestseller that traces the rise of the Guggenheims, the Goldmans, and other families from immigrant poverty to social prominence.They immigrated to America from Germany in the nineteenth century with names like Loeb, Sachs, Seligman, Lehman, Guggenheim, and Goldman. From tenements on the Lower East Side to Park Avenue mansions, this handful of Jewish families turned small businesses into imposing enterprises and amass...

Three New York Times bestsellers chronicle the rise of America's most influential Jewish families as they transition from poor immigrants to household names.In his acclaimed trilogy, author Stephen Birmingham paints an engrossing portrait of Jewish American life from the colonial era through the twentieth century with fascinating narrative and meticulous research.The collection's best-known book, "Our Crowd" follows nineteenth-century Germa...

The acclaimed social historian provides an in-depth look at eight society women who shaped upper class culture from the Gilded Age to WWII.Astor. Rockefeller. McCormick. Belmont. Family names that still adorn buildings, streets, and charity foundations. While their men blazed across America with their oil, industry, and railways, the matriarchs founded art museums, opera houses, and symphonies that functioned almost as private clubs. Linked by money, marriage, privi...

The acclaimed chronicler of America's upper classes reveals their preferred enclaves and secret hideaways across the country.Where are the "Right Places," those exclusive locations where the privileged live and play? You may be in for a surprise. For as Stephen Birmingham shows, in the same witty, penetrating style that characterizes his other studies of the elite, the right places could be just about anywhere, from exclusive chalets in Sun Valley, Idaho, to the tra...

Extraordinary true stories of the Irish in America, their remarkable rise from urban poverty, and the powerful dynasties they engenderedAuthor Stephen Birmingham, who chronicled the rise of Jewish immigrants to extraordinary wealth and success in "Our Crowd", now turns his attention to the Irish. Real Lace tells the colorful and fascinating true stories of America's most renowned Irish-Catholic families. Scions of courageous, driven, and resilient ...

Back at his family's New England estate, a man finds a second chance at love—and a devastating truth—in this novel by the author of Young Mr. Keefe.At thirty-one years of age, Hugh Carey has ended both his marriage and his advertising partnership. With his life at loose ends, he's returned to the family home in Connecticut—that imposing castle built by his grandfather—to take stock and start over. His mother is only too happy to offer her counsel, as she do...

An enlightening and entertaining inside look at the lifestyles of America's extremely wealthy from the bestselling author of "Our Crowd"It's no secret that the rich are different from the rest of us. But the rich, as author Stephen Birmingham so insightfully points out, are also different from the very rich. There's Society, and then there's Real Society, and it takes multiple generations for families of the former to become entrenched in the latte...