{"title":"Stephen Birmingham","description":"Stephen Birmingham is a preeminent social historian, known for his books The Right People, Real Lace, and The Grandees. He allows his reader unparalleled access to the most exclusive society sets, and tells their stories with great warmth and wit.","products":[{"product_id":"life-at-the-dakota-new-yorks-most-unusual-address-paperback","title":"Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eLife at the Dakota is a deliciously entertaining social history which describes the lives of the rich and trendy who have lived at the Dakota, a New York apartment house daringly erected in 1884, \"too far up\" and on the wrong side of town. \u003cbr\u003eIn Stephen Birmingham's witty chronicle, the atmosphere of this elegant edifice is so powerful that the building itself becomes an unforgettable major character. From its start the Dakota has attracted a lively mix of people, from celebrities Leonard Bernstein, Roberta Flack, and John Lennon, to a ground-floor tenant who kept a stuffed horse in full armor in the living room, and yet another older tenant who was spotted wandering naked through the cellar by some workmen, mistaken for a ghost of the building. \u003cbr\u003eWhile detailing the active and often contentious life within the building from the nineteenth century to the present, Mr. Birmingham also brings to life the New York social scene and that of other fashionable American cities. Just as the sixty-foot rooms, the elaborate moldings and rococo ceilings are lushly described, so is the changing atmosphere in Central Park, the smell and sound of the street below, the judgments about what was fashionable and what was not throughout the years. Here is a window into the marvelous world of The Dakota and through it, the changing view of New York.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367065813215,"sku":"9781493024735","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/XYvXEMLnbb9781493024735.webp?v=1789102296"},{"product_id":"the-grandes-dames-the-wonderfully-uninhibited-ladies-who-used-their-wealth-position-to-create-american-culture-in-their-own-images-from-the-gilded-paperback","title":"The Grandes Dames: The wonderfully uninhibited ladies who used their wealth \u0026 position to create American culture in their own images-from the Gilded - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eAstor. Rockefeller. McCormick. Belmont. All family names that still adorn buildings, streets and charity foundations. While the men blazed across America with their oil, industry, and railways, the matriarchs founded art museums, opera houses, and symphony houses that functioned almost as private clubs. These women ruled American society with a style and impact that make today's socialites seem pale reflections of their forbears. Linked by money, marriage, privilege, power and class, they formed a grand American matriarchy that dominated the social and cultural life of the nation between the 1870s and the Second World War. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Grandes Dames of America knew just what they wanted and precisely how to get it, and when faced with criticism, malice or jealousy, they would rise above their detractors and usually persevere. Preeminent social historian Stephen Birmingham takes us into the drawing rooms of these powerful women, providing keen insights into aspects of an American Society that no longer exists. Caroline Astor, when asked for her fare boarding a street car, responded, \"No thank you, I have my own favorite charities.\" Edith \"Effie\" Stern decided that no existing school would do for her child, so she had a new one built. And the legendary Isabella Stewart Gardner replied to a contemporary who was overly taken with their Mayflower ancestors: \"Of course, immigration laws are much more strict nowadays.\" These women had looks, manner, and style, but more than that they had presence--there was a sense that when one of them entered a room, something momentous was about to occur. Birmingham opens a window to the highest levels of American society with these eight profiles of American \"royalty\".","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367066403039,"sku":"9781493024759","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/iVs_xwwpwR9781493024759.webp?v=1789102297"},{"product_id":"our-crowd-the-great-jewish-families-of-new-york-paperback","title":"Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A fascinating and absorbing chapter of New York social and financial history--it is hard to understand why it has never been written before.\" --Louis Auchincloss\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"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\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Future American histories will have to take into account Mr. Birmingham's financial and social history and imposing cast of characters.\" --The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong the Jewish families who emigrated from Germany to New York in the nineteenth century were the Loebs, the Goldmans, the Sachs, the Seligmans, and the Guggenheims, to name only a few. In New York, they quickly made their way from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side, building vast fortunes by dint of hard work and moving from the tenements where they initially lived to exquisite mansions on Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Yet, despite their acquired wealth, they were denied entry into the upper reaches of New York society--the so-called 400--because of their religion, modest origins, and recent arrival in America. \"Our Crowd\" tells the engrossing story of the extraordinary society they built in New York. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367972471007,"sku":"9781493057757","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/XewbI444ze9781493057757.webp?v=1789116994"},{"product_id":"certain-people-americas-black-elite-paperback","title":"Certain People: America's Black Elite - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCertain People\u003c\/i\u003e is an extensively researched, fascinating, and intimate portrait of America's black elite which reveals the rarely publicized world of the heritage, conflicts, and characteristics of the black upper class.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike its white counterpart, the black elite is divided into the nouveaux riches and the Old Guard. Birmingham's close-ups of the lives of two Chicago multimillionaires-John H. Johnson, president and executive officer of the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of \u003ci\u003eEbony \u003c\/i\u003eand several other magazines; and George Johnson (no relation), founder and president of Johnson Products Company, manufacturer of a wide range of black cosmetics such as Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen-illuminate the characteristics of the black nouveaux rich. In addition to the business coups of these archrivals, Birmingham probes their private lives-the way they dress, decorate their homes, eat, and raise their children-to reach an understanding of the self-made black tycoon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite the financial success of John Johnson and George Johnson, these men were not seen as socially acceptable by members of the black Old Guard: families-mostly educators, philanthropists, or society dilettantes-based mainly in Washington, DC. Mirroring the classic battle between established families and newcomers in white society, the black Old Guard admires dignity, discretion, and stability more than wealth. With the help of some of the families themselves, Birmingham traces their ancestry back to the pre-Civil War era and unveils the nuances attendant upon \"passing\" into white society, upon white ancestors, upon the recognition of the African heritage, and upon membership in the exclusive clubs and organizations that proliferate the black upper class.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a scholar of black history, genealogy, and sociology, Birmingham offers not only a comprehensive view of the emergence of a stratified black society but also a sensitive portrayal of black-white relationships in business, recreation, social functions, and other spheres of contemporary American society.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368970944735,"sku":"9781493024711","price":26.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ufH6Hx_axU9781493024711.webp?v=1789135975"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/stephen-birmingham.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}