In Pursuit of Privilege : A History of New York City's Upper Class and the Making of a Metropolis / Clifton Hood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hood, Clifton, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Upper class--New York (State)--New York--History.

Upper class.

Elite (Social sciences)--New York (State)--New York--History.

Elite (Social sciences).

Rich people--New York (State)--New York--History.

Rich people.

New York (N.Y.)--Civilization.

New York (N.Y.).

New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs--History.

New York (N.Y.)--Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (509 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A history that extends from the 1750s to the present, In Pursuit of Privilege recounts upper-class New Yorkers' struggle to create a distinct world guarded against outsiders, even as economic growth and democratic opportunity enabled aspirants to gain entrance. Despite their efforts, New York City's upper class has been drawn into the larger story of the city both through class conflict and through their role in building New York's cultural and economic foundations. In Pursuit of Privilege describes the famous and infamous characters and events at the center of this extraordinary history, from the elite families and wealthy tycoons of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the Wall Street executives of today. From the start, upper-class New Yorkers have been open and aggressive in their behavior, keen on attaining prestige, power, and wealth. Clifton Hood sharpens this characterization by merging a history of the New York economy in the eighteenth century with the story of Wall Street's emergence as an international financial center in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the dominance of New York's financial and service sectors in the 1980s. Bringing together several decades of upheaval and change, he shows that New York's upper class did not rise exclusively from the Gilded Age but rather from a relentless pursuit of privilege, affecting not just the urban elite but the city's entire cultural, economic, and political fabric.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

1 "The Best Mart on the Continent"

2 Uncertain Adjustments

3 Wealth

4 All for the Union

5 A Dynamic Businessman's Aristocracy

6 The Ways of Millionaireville

7 Making Spaces of Their Own

8 The Antielitist Elite

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations for Selected Manuscript Sources

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9780231542951

023154295X

OCLC:

979904364