Wasps: The Splendors and Miseries of an American Aristocracy

by Michael Knox Beran

Overview

An examination of WASP culture through the lives of some of its most prominent figures.  Envied and lampooned, misunderstood and yet distinctly American, WASPs are as much a culture, socioeconomic and ethnic designation, and state of mind.

Charming, witty, and vigorously researced, WASPS traces the rise and fall of this distinctly American phenomenon through the lives of prominent icons from Henry Adams and Theodore Roosevelt to George Santayana and John Jay Chapman.

Throughout this dynamic story, Beran chronicles the efforts of WASPs to better the world around them as well as the struggles of these WASPs to break free from their restrictive culture.  The death of George H. W. Bush brought about reflections on the end of patrician WASP culture, where privilege reigned, but so did a genuine desire to use that privilege for public service.

In the time of Trump—who is the antithesis of true WASP culture—people look at the John Kerry, Bobby Kennedy, and Philip and Kay Grahams of the world with wistfulness.

And even though we are a more diverse and pluralistic nation now than ever before, there is something about WASP culture that remains enduringly aspirational and fascinating.

Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, Beran’s saga dramatizes the evolving American aristocracy that forever changed a nation—and what we can still glean from WASP culture as we enter a new era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643137070
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	08/03/2021
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Michael Knox Beran's previous books include Forge of Empires, 1861-1871, The Last Patrician, a study of Robert Kennedy that was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Murder by Candlelight, also available from Pegasus Books.  His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and the National Review.  He lives in Westchester County, New York. michaelknoxberan.com

Table of Contents

A WASP Genealogy vii

Preface xiii

1 Twilight of the WASPs 1

2 A Dying Race 30

3 Mrs. Jack Gardner and Her Unlikely Swan 39

4 Henry Adams Fails to Reform America 45

5 Cotty Peabody Leaves the Bank 54

6 Mrs. Jack Seeks a Humanized Society 60

7 The Lost Hand of John Jay Chapman 65

8 A Glorious and Most Intensely Interesting Life 71

9 The Madonnas of Henry Adams 79

10 A Constancy in the Stars: The Harvards of George Santayana 91

11 Teddy 98

12 Vida Scudder Emulates Sc. Francis 106

13 The Visionary Neurasthenics 116

14 Billy Wag's Paideia 124

15 Henry Stimson Sees the Stars 132

16 Pax Americana 139

17 The Great World and J. P. Morgan 149

18 Mandarinism 158

19 From Theodore at Armageddon to the New Republic on West Twenty-first Street 167

20 Franklin and Eleanor

21 The WASPs Throw Off Victorianism 184

22 The New Patricians in War 196

23 The New Patricians in Peace 213

24 Lost in the Jazz Age 229

25 In the Secret Parts of Fortune 241

26 The Waste Land 251

27 Young Men Who Would Return to the Provinces 261

28 Fear Itself 276

29 The Terrors of the Earth 295

30 Joy Lane 305

31 The Death of Men 318

32 Pour le Mérite 336

33 Centurions of an American Century 346

34 Burnt Offerings: The Ember Days of the WASPs 360

35 The Eutrapelian Imagination, or WASP Neurasthenia-and Ours 402

36 Recessional: The WASP and God 418

37 When We Are Gone 422

Postscript: Orpheus's Head 437

Picture Credits 446

Notes and Sources 447

Index 521