A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York / Edition 1

by Greg King

Overview

Journey through the splendor and the excesses of the Gilded Age

"Every aspect of life in the Gilded Age took on deeper, transcendent meaning intended to prove the greatness of America: residences beautified their surroundings; works of art uplifted and were shared with the public; clothing exhibited evidence of breeding; jewelry testified to cultured taste and wealth; dinners demonstrated sophisticated palates; and balls rivaled those of European courts in their refinement. The message was unmistakable: the United States had arrived culturally, and Caroline Astor and her circle were intent on leading the nation to unimagined heights of glory."
—From A Season of Splendor

Take a dazzling journey through the Gilded Age, the period from roughly the 1870s to 1914, when bluebloods from older, established families met the nouveau riche headlong—railway barons, steel magnates, and Wall Street speculators—and forged an uneasy and glittering new society in New York City. The best of the best were Caroline Astor's 400 families, and she shaped and ruled this high society with steel.

A Season of Splendor is a panoramic sweep across this sumptuous landscape, presenting the families, the wealth, the balls, the clothing, and the mansions in vivid detail—as well as the shocking end of the era with the sinking of the Titanic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470185698
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	10/01/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	391,883
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Greg King is the author of the British bestseller The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson as well as The Court of the Last Tsar, The Fate of the Romanovs, and Twilight of Splendor. He has appeared as an onscreen commentator for the BBC, the Discovery Channel, and A&E.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

A Note on Currency.

Prologue.

Chapter 1: Mrs. Astor Holds Court.

Chapter 2: The Vainglorious Vanderbilts.

Chapter 3: Enter the Challenger.

Chapter 4: The Society Lady.

Chapter 5: The Society Gentleman.

Chapter 6: The Court Jester.

Chapter 7: The Arrivistes.

Chapter 8: The Edifice Complex.

Chapter 9: Palaces on Fifth Avenue.

Chapter 10: Mrs. Astor Joins the Race.

Chapter 11: Building for Eternity.

Chapter 12: The Unseen Armies.

Chapter 13: Clothing.

Chapter 14: Jewelry.

Chapter 15: Transportation.

Chapter 16: Masters of the Hudson.

Chapter 17: "The Inland Newport".

Chapter 18: Monarch of the Smoky Mountains.

Chapter 19: The Kingdom by the Sea.

Chapter 20: Swells in Newport.

Chapter 21: The Social Season.

Chapter 22: The Society Dinner Party.

Chapter 23: Society Balls.

Chapter 24: The Dollar Princesses.

Chapter 25: A Breath of Scandal.

Chapter 26: Sailing to Oblivion.

Epilogue.

Bibliography.