Pre-order Price: $15.50

Save $2.49 (14%)

This title will be auto-delivered to your Kindle on May 14, 2024.
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the authors

Stephen Birmingham
Follow
Carey Birmingham
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Grandes Dames Kindle Edition

by Stephen Birmingham (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 88 ratings
See all formats and editions
The acclaimed social historian provides an in-depth look at eight society women who shaped upper class culture from the Gilded Age to WWII.

Astor. Rockefeller. McCormick. Belmont. Family names that still adorn buildings, streets, and charity foundations. While their men blazed across America with their oil, industry, and railways, the matriarchs founded art museums, opera houses, and symphonies that functioned almost as private clubs. Linked by money, marriage, privilege, and power, these women formed a grand American matriarchy—and they ruled American society with a style and impact that make today’s socialites seem pale reflections of their forbears.

Stephen Birmingham takes us into the drawing rooms of these powerful women, providing keen insights into an American society that no longer exists. Caroline Astor, who, when asked for her fare boarding a streetcar, responded, “No thank you, I have my own favorite charities.” Edith “Effie” Stern deciding that no existing school would do for her child, so she had a new one built. And the legendary Isabella Stewart Gardner replying to a contemporary who was overly taken with their Mayflower ancestors: “Of course, immigration laws are much more strict nowadays.”

These women had looks, manner, and style, but more than that, they had presence—a sense that when one of them entered a room, something momentous was about to occur; Birmingham opens a window to the highest levels of American society with these profiles of American “royalty.”
Previous page
  1. Print length
    454 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    May 14, 2024
  6. File size
    7285 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D2895MB6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (May 14, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 14, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7285 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 454 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 88 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Stephen Birmingham

    Stephen Birmingham

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Stephen Birmingham (1929–2015) was an American author of more than thirty books. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he graduated from Williams College in 1953 and taught writing at the University of Cincinnati. Birmingham’s work focuses on the upper class in America. He’s written about the African American elite in Certain People and prominent Jewish society in Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: The Story of America’s Sephardic Elite, and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews. His work also encompasses several novels including The Auerbach Will, The LeBaron Secret, Shades of Fortune, and The Rothman Scandal, and other non-fiction titles such as California Rich, The Grandes Dames, and Life at the Dakota: New York’s Most Unusual Address.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Carey Birmingham

    Carey Birmingham

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Stephen Birmingham was born in 1929 in Hartford, CT and graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1950.

    Mr. Birmingham was perhaps most noted for his worldwide best seller Our Crowd, published in 1967. The book, which has the subtitle A History of the Great Jewish Families of New York took over 18 months to research and write and, after publication, almost single-handedly created the literary genre of social histories. Our Crowd broke numerous records at its publication for, among other things, length of time on the NY Times Best Seller List, and confirmed Mr. Birmingham’s preeminence in the social history genre. Subsequently, he wrote several other books in the genre, including The Right People: A Portrait of the American Social Establishment, The Grandees: America’s Sephardic Elite, Real Lace: America’s Irish Rich, and Certain People: America’s Black Elite, among others.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
88 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

poet ancient
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent pre-owned book
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
Great shape for a pre-owned book. beat my expectations. Addendum : As I read it, I found that the spine is torn in 2 places and the pages are completely separated from the spine and frankly are loose in both these places. This caught me by surprise and only became noticeable when I reach the places where the pages were not adhering. I can read it by using rubber bands to hold the pages in place. I had thought that this would go into my library, but frankly it is going to go in the trash.
Helpful
 Report
Tara
4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is about an oft overlooked group in women's history. Their decisions carved out the Eastern Sea Board. Their contributions to museums and charity were invaluable. And they were a bunch of plucky broads who usually got their way..of course having money helped. But they had interesting stories and personalities. The over the top decadence was hard to read especially during the depression. But history is to be learned and learned from, not glossed over or swept under the rung and this was an informative and almost entirely entertaining look at the class and era. Worth your money and your time.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Mano
3.0 out of 5 stars Wealth doesnt always bring happiness.
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
Most all books by Birmingham are good reads. This one didnt disappoint!
Helpful
 Report
Mary Jane
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book about the wealthy women of the late ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
Very interesting book about the wealthy women of the late 19th and early 20th century. It gave meaning to flesh out people I’d heard of, but did not know why they were well known, how they acquired their money, and what these philantropists did with it. Fascinating!
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Lisa Christianson
4.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2018
Verified Purchase
These are women from a bygone era. They were all change agents in their own way, in spite of the cultural restrictions. I really enjoyed the pictures that were included. They help add context. I also appreciated that I knew very little about these women beforehand. A very entertaining read
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
VRS
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting reading.
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2010
Verified Purchase
I found this book to be interesting, fascinating, and absorbing. A very good book to cozy up to when you are trying to get your mind off of a bad day. I highly recommend it.
11 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
michelle
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2019
Verified Purchase
Great biographies of rich Americans who actually also contributed in major ways to helping those less fortunate
Helpful
 Report
Angelica Lussich
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended reading
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
A fascinating glimpse on less-known women who left a mark in American society. Highly recommended reading on social history..
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report