Flight of the WASP : the rise, fall, and future of America's original ruling class / Michael Gross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gross, Michael, 1952- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Race relations--Political aspects.

United States.

WASPs (Persons)--United States--Social conditions.

WASPs (Persons).

White people--Race identity--United States.

White people.

Capitalism--Religious aspects--Protestant churches.

Capitalism.

Physical Description:

x, 470 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Other Title:

Flight of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

Rise, fall, and future of America's original ruling class

Place of Publication:

New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Fifteen families. Four hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in America's history. For decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph Alsop to the editors of Politico have proclaimed the diminishment of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who for generations were the dominant socio-cultural-political force in America. While the WASP elite has, in the last half century, indeed drifted from American centrality to the periphery, its relevance and impact remain, as Michael Gross reveals in his compelling chronicle of the WASPs in our history. From Colonial America's founding settlements through the Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complicated legacy of American WASPs-their profound accomplishments and egregious failures-through the lives of fifteen influential individuals and their very privileged, sometimes intermarried families. As the Bradford, Randolph, Morris, Biddle, Sanford, Peabody, and Whitney clans, among others, progress, prosper, and stumble, defining aspects in the four-century sweep of American history emerge: our wide, oft-contentious religious diversity; the deep scars of slavery, genocide, and intolerance; the creation and sometime misuse of astonishing economic, political, and social power; an enduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with philanthropy; an equal capacity for irresponsible, sometimes wanton, behavior. "American society was supposed to be different," writes Gross, "but for most of our history we have had a patriciate, an aristocracy, a hereditary oligarchic upper class, who initiated the American national experiment." In previous acclaimed books such as 740 Park and Rogues' Gallery, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the canvas, Flight of the WASP chronicles it across four centuries and fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to American history"-- Provided by publisher.

"Fifteen families. Four hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in America's history. For decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph Alsop to the editors of Politico have proclaimed the diminishment of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who for generations were the dominant socio-cultural-political force in America. While the WASP elite has, in the last half century, indeed drifted from American centrality to the periphery, its relevance and impact remain, as Michael Gross reveals in his compelling chronicle of the WASPs in our history. From Colonial America's founding settlements through the Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complicated legacy of American WASPs--their profound accomplishments and egregious failures--through the lives of fifteen influential individuals and their very privileged, sometimes intermarried families. As the Bradford, Randolph, Morris, Biddle, Sanford, Peabody, and Whitney clans, among others, progress, prosper, and stumble, defining aspects in the four-century sweep of American history emerge: our wide, oft-contentious religious diversity; the deep scars of slavery, genocide, and intolerance; the creation and sometime misuse of astonishing economic, political, and social power; an enduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with philanthropy; an equal capacity for irresponsible, sometimes wanton, behavior. "American society was supposed to be different," writes Gross, "but for most of our history we have had a patriciate, an aristocracy, a hereditary oligarchic upper class, who initiated the American national experiment." In previous acclaimed books such as 740 Park and Rogues' Gallery, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the canvas, Flight of the WASP chronicles it across four centuries and fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to American history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Faith, 1609-1750, William Bradford

Enlightened self-interest, 1750-1789, Gouverneur Morris

Oppression, 1773-1833, John Randolph of Roanoke

Acquisition, 1790-1866, Lewis Cass and Nicholas Biddle

Opportunism, 1846-1872, Henry Shelton Sanford

Exclusion, 1869-1900, the Peabodys and The 400

Entitlement, 1873-1900, the Rutherfurds and the Whitneys

Malevolence, 1900-1937, Henry Fairfield Osborn

Decadence, 1936-1995, Michael Butler

Adaptation, today.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-451) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Hagen fund bookplate.

Other Format:

Online version:

Gross, Michael, 1952- Flight of the WASP First edition. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Online version: Gross, Michael, 1952- Flight of the WASP First edition. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

ISBN:

9780802161864

0802161863

OCLC:

1387568730