MICHAEL GROSS NEW BOOK 'FLIGHT OF THE WASP: THE RISE, FALL AND FUTURE OF AMERICA'S ORIGINAL CLASS

 

Flight of the WASP

Asher and Michelle Edelman hosted a Champagne book signing and launch party for Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall and Future of America’s Original Class by best-selling author Michael Gross, at their art-filled home in the East 70s, that attracted journalists, authors, social figures and members of prominent WASP clans, some of them featured in the book on Wednesday November 15th.

 

Christopher Mason

Bonnie Pfeifer Evans & Yanna Avis

Michael Gross With Pam Taylor Yates

Among the WASPs: Nick and Jackie Astor Drexel, George Biddle, Christine Mortimer Biddle, Liz and Jen Bonsal, direct descendants of Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, Podie Peabody Lynch, Sara Stuyvesant and George King.  

Journalists and Authors: William Cohan, Candace Bushnell, Teri Agins, Richard and Sessa Johnson, Ed Kosner, George Gibson, George Wayne, Carl Swanson, Christopher Mason, Steven M.L. Aronson, Bob Morris, Petra Kobayashi, Ben Diamond, Nancy Newhouse and Ben Ryder Howe. 

Additional guests included: Angela Chen, Nicole Miller, Bonnie Pfeifer Evans, Anki Leeds, Jamee and Peter Gregory, Kevin Gray, Alexandra Lebenthal and Jay Diamond, Fred Doner, Roger and Bara de Cabrol, Pierre and Connie Crosby, Maria Smith, Yanna Avis, Lilianna and Willie Cavendish, and Michele Gerber Klein. 

 

Steven M L Aronson With Christopher Mason

Nicole Miller And George Wayne

Roy Kean And Christine Mortimer Biddle

“Delightfully provocative . . . The book’s real delight lies in its brisk biographies of the people who illustrate the ascent and descent of WASP hegemony . . . Well-researched and well-written, Gross’ portrait gallery will, if nothing else, illuminate the odd corners of the lives of our nation’s elite and American history itself.”—BookPage (starred review)

“A thoughtful deep dive into the history of the country and who has wielded power here, but is kept lively thanks to Gross’s ability to spin yarns that make even the Pilgrims feel exciting.”—Town & Country

“An immersive and nuanced group portrait of New England’s elite from 1609 to today . . . Gross takes detours into extended considerations of areas in which his subjects had a hand, such as the displacement of Indigenous peoples and the study of eugenics. Striking an expert balance between the big picture and intimate thumbnails, this is an enlightening study of American culture.”—Publishers Weekly

“A critical history of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cohort of American society, once dominant, now descending . . . Readable and engaging.”—Kirkus Reviews

About Michael Gross:

Author of three New York Times bestsellers, Michael Gross is recognized as one of America’s most provocative writers — “a premier chronicler of the rich,” in the words of Gay Talese. The late Dominick Dunne called his books “social history at its finest”.  His specialty, deconstructing the most privileged lives and revealing the reality behind carefully constructed images, is well-suited to these skeptical times.

He is the author of House of Outrageous Fortune, 740 Park and Model, as well as Rogues’ Gallery, Unreal Estate, My Generation and Focus: The Sexy, Secret, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers. His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, New York, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and GQ and many other print publications, as well as Air Mail, The Daily Beast, Gawker and Curbed online, and he is now the Editor-at-Large of Palmer: the Palm Beach Reader.  Gross’ latest book, Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America’s Original Ruling Class, is published by Atlantic Monthly Press.

For more information, please visit: www.mgross.com

I: @MichaelGrossAuthor | F: MichaelGrossAuthor

Photos Courtesy Of Lawlor Media Group / Daniella Liguori / Pamela Taylor / Fred Conrad