the rise, fall, and future of America's original ruling class Gross, Michael 1952- creator text bibliography nyu 2023 First edition. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition. monographic eng

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x, 470 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm "Fifteen families. Four hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in America's history. For decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph Alsop to the editors of Politico have proclaimed the diminishment of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who for generations were the dominant socio-cultural-political force in America. While the WASP elite has, in the last half century, indeed drifted from American centrality to the periphery, its relevance and impact remain, as Michael Gross reveals in his compelling chronicle of the WASPs in our history. From Colonial America's founding settlements through the Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complicated legacy of American WASPs-their profound accomplishments and egregious failures-through the lives of fifteen influential individuals and their very privileged, sometimes intermarried families. As the Bradford, Randolph, Morris, Biddle, Sanford, Peabody, and Whitney clans, among others, progress, prosper, and stumble, defining aspects in the four-century sweep of American history emerge: our wide, oft-contentious religious diversity; the deep scars of slavery, genocide, and intolerance; the creation and sometime misuse of astonishing economic, political, and social power; an enduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with philanthropy; an equal capacity for irresponsible, sometimes wanton, behavior. "American society was supposed to be different," writes Gross, "but for most of our history we have had a patriciate, an aristocracy, a hereditary oligarchic upper class, who initiated the American national experiment." In previous acclaimed books such as 740 Park and Rogues' Gallery, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the canvas, Flight of the WASP chronicles it across four centuries and fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to American history"-- Faith, 1609-1750, William Bradford Enlightened self-interest, 1750-1789, Gouverneur Morris Oppression, 1773-1833, John Randolph of Roanoke Acquisition, 1790-1866, Lewis Cass and Nicholas Biddle Opportunism, 1846-1872, Henry Shelton Sanford Exclusion, 1869-1900, the Peabodys and The 400 Entitlement, 1873-1900, the Rutherfurds and the Whitneys Malevolence, 1900-1937, Henry Fairfield Osborn Decadence, 1936-1995, Michael Butler Adaptation, today Michael Gross. Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-451) and index. n-us--- WASPs (Persons) United States Social conditions White people Race identity United States Blancos Identidad racial Estados Unidos Capitalism Religious aspects Protestant churches Capitalismo Aspectos religiosos Iglesias protestantes United States Race relations Political aspects Estados Unidos Relaciones raciales Aspectos políticos HT 1577 G878f 2023 305.80973 Gross, Michael, 1952- New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023 First Grove Atlantic edition. (DLC) 2023023632 9780802161864 0802161863 2023023631 DLC 230627 20260115133705.0 23202784 eng