Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York

A novelist who has specialized in creating tales of the rich and well placed offers an insider's view of one of the wealthiest segments of an affluent city: Jewish upper--class life in New York.

Working with diaries, letters, and personal reminiscences supplied by members of interwoven families--Loeb, Lehman, straus, seligman, and Guggenheism, among others--Stephen Birmingham has assembled a remarkable composite portrait. some of his tales are wildly funny. others are poignant. All are set within a world of numbing opulence--Fifth Avenue mansions, chateaux on Long Island, castles in Westchester, vast art collections--millions given away so quietly and steadily that they have never properly been counted. This economic power and unique culture was played out alongside--but never a part of--the gentile establishment.

Remarkable individuals, resplendent dynasties--out of the elegant fabric of their lives, Birmingham has fashioned superb social history.