The LeBaron Secret
The LeBaron Secret

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1504026373

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An aging California vintner is determined to protect her empire from a hostile family takeover and the dark secrets that could destroy everything she loves At age seventy-four, Assaria “Sari” LeBaron is still a force to be reckoned with. For decades, she has run the Baronet Vineyards, one of California’s largest and most successful wine producers, maintaining sole control even after a suspicious accident left her permanently crippled. And now, in her golden years, the formidable Sari refuses to relinquish power to her own children, a decision that has only served to increase tensions among her already emotionally damaged family members. But Sari’s ambitious son, Eric, is no longer willing to play a subservient role, and has begun working behind the scenes to take over the business, forming alliances within and outside the family in his effort to dethrone the unyielding matriarch. The most difficult fight of Sari LeBaron’s long and eventful life has begun; a heartbreaking struggle that will pit loved one against loved one and expose long-hidden secrets that could destroy both Sari’s business and her family. The LeBaron Secret is another riveting excursion into a world of privilege that Stephen Birmingham knows intimately. It is a breathtaking tale of secrets and lies, shady double-dealings, family skeletons, and the inner turmoil of the fabulously wealthy as only the bestselling author of “Our Crowd” and The Auerbach Will could tell it.

America's Secret Aristocracy
America's Secret Aristocracy

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2024-05-14

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 1504095561

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An “entertaining and perceptive” history of America’s most exclusive families, from the Brahmins of New England to the Grandees of California (The Washington Post). America has always been a constitutionally classless society, yet an American aristocracy emerged anyway—a private club whose members run in the same circles and observe the same unwritten rules. Here, renowned social historian Stephen Birmingham reveals the inner workings of this aristocracy. He identifies which families in which cities have always mattered, and how they’ve defined America. America’s Secret Aristocracy offers an inside look at the estates, marriages, and financial empires of America’s most powerful families—from the Randolphs of Virginia and the Roosevelts of New York to the Carillos and Ortegas of California. With countless anecdotes about our nation’s elite, including interviews with their modern-day descendants, Birmingham presents colorful portraits that capture the true definition, essence, and customs of America’s aristocracy.

The Sound of Gravel
The Sound of Gravel

Author: Ruth Wariner

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2016-01-05

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1250077710

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A New York Times bestseller, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable true story of one girl's coming-of-age in a polygamist Mormon Doomsday cult. “A haunting, harrowing testament to survival." — People Magazine “An addictive chronicle of a polygamist community.” — New York Magazine Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father--the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony--is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant. In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her step-father works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself. Recounted from the innocent and hopeful perspective of a child, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable true story of a girl fighting for peace and love. This is an intimate, gripping book resonant with triumph, courage, and resilience.

A Writer Writes
A Writer Writes

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2022-11-15

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1504079884

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A memoir by the New York Times–bestselling author and longtime chronicler of America’s wealthy elite. Born in Connecticut in 1929 and educated at Williams College, Stephen Birmingham went on to create a literary niche with his numerous nonfiction works about New York’s—and the nation’s—upper class, particularly focusing on Jewish, African American, and Irish communities, as well as old-money WASPs. He also drew on his “intimate knowledge of the private lives of the rich and famous” to write bestselling works of fiction such as The Auerbach Will (The New York Times Book Review). In this book, Birmingham’s attention is turned to his own life, both personal and professional, allowing us to learn about the man who created such compelling portraits of glittering parties, exclusive addresses, and, in some cases, rags-to-riches sagas that epitomize the American dream—and the American struggle. In the end, his story is as fascinating as those of the aristocrats he documented. “When it comes to the folkways of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged, Stephen Birmingham knows what he’s talking about.” —Los Angeles Times

The Right People
The Right People

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1504026276

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An enlightening and entertaining inside look at the lifestyles of America’s extremely wealthy from the bestselling author of “Our Crowd” It’s no secret that the rich are different from the rest of us. But the rich, as author Stephen Birmingham so insightfully points out, are also different from the very rich. There’s Society, and then there’s Real Society, and it takes multiple generations for families of the former to become entrenched in the latter. Real Society is not about the money—or rather, it’s not only about the money—it is about history, breeding, tradition, and most of all, the name. The Right People is an engrossing and illuminating journey through the customs and habits of the phenomenally wealthy, from the San Francisco elite to the upper crust of New York’s Westchester County. It is a marvelously anecdotal, intimately detailed overview of the lives of the American aristocracy: where they gather and dine; their games and sports, clubs and parties, friendships and feuds; their mating, marriage, and divorce rituals—a potpourri of priceless true stories featuring the Astors, Goulds, Vanderbilts, Vanderlips, Dukes, Biddles, and other lofty names from the pages of the Social Register.

California Rich
California Rich

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2024-05-14

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 1504095588

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“[A] downright intriguing history . . . chronicling of the creation of the Californian Dream.” —Los Angeles Times Since the Gold Rush, California has represented a land of opportunity for a special breed of American. Heading west in pursuit of sunshine, riches, and elusive dreams, the early mavericks of California set out to make their fortunes—and often succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations. Prospectors became oil tycoons, squatters became cattle barons, and farmers’ wives became grandees of a new rough-hewn society. In California Rich, Stephen Birmingham explores this fascinating social history, showing how the ruling class of California was born and how it evolved a lifestyle that continues to fascinate the world. Its colorful array of characters include: the despotic media mogul William Randolph Hearst; governor and railroad baron Leland Stanford; and real estate magnate James Irvine, who attended business meetings with an entire pack of hunting dogs. In exploring how these self-made millionaires acquired their money—and what they did with it—Birmingham sheds light on the customs and quirks of California wealth, and how the state came to symbolize the easy, opulent life that still entices seekers of fame and fortune today.

Real Lace
Real Lace

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1504026306

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Extraordinary true stories of the Irish in America, their remarkable rise from urban poverty, and the powerful dynasties they engendered Author Stephen Birmingham, who chronicled the rise of Jewish immigrants to extraordinary wealth and success in “Our Crowd”, now turns his attention to the Irish. Real Lace tells the colorful and fascinating true stories of America’s most renowned Irish-Catholic families. Scions of courageous, driven, and resilient men and women who escaped starvation during Ireland’s terrible potato famine in the mid-nineteenth century, they battled their way out of the slums of Boston and New York, overcoming prejudice and poverty to achieve great wealth, fame, and political power. Here are the remarkable tales of the Kennedys and Cuddihys; the astonishing rise and tragic fall of the McDonnells of Wall Street; thrilling yarns of Floods, Mackays, O’Briens, and other so-called Silver Kings of California; and unforgettable stories about brilliant, if not always scrupulous, Irish politicos who learned how to retain enduring power by perfecting the urban political machine. Birmingham’s enthralling history celebrates the pluck, blarney, and unshakeable spirit of a remarkable group of achievers.

Carriage Trade
Carriage Trade

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1504026330

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The suspicious death of a New York retail tycoon reveals dangerous cracks in a family’s foundation in this page-turning novel of wealth, jealousy, betrayal, and murder One of New York’s most elegant and exclusive retail establishments, Tarkington’s has been the preferred shopping experience of Manhattan’s elite for decades. But the unexpected death of founder Silas Tarkington has raised serious doubts about the future of the enterprise, and his daughter, Miranda, must weigh the pros and cons of continuing her father’s legacy. Then, at the reading of Silas’s will, disturbing questions arise about the tycoon’s past and suggestions of a dark, secret life threaten to tear the family apart. For Miranda; her elegant socialite mother, Consuelo; her estranged son, Blazer; and Diana, the fieriest and most recent in the late entrepreneur’s long line of mistresses, the truth could destroy much more than the family business—especially as it becomes more and more likely that Silas’s death was no accident. Author Stephen Birmingham has spent his career documenting the lives of the wealthy and powerful in his bestsellers “Our Crowd” and “The Rest of Us”. Putting his unique inside knowledge of the privileged world of the upper crust to excellent use, he has devised a thrilling story of money, power, deception, and treachery that will keep the reader eagerly turning its pages.

The Tower of Love
The Tower of Love

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2024-05-14

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1504095677

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Back at his family’s New England estate, a man finds a second chance at love—and a devastating truth—in this novel by the author of Young Mr. Keefe. At thirty-one years of age, Hugh Carey has ended both his marriage and his advertising partnership. With his life at loose ends, he’s returned to the family home in Connecticut—that imposing castle built by his grandfather—to take stock and start over. His mother is only too happy to offer her counsel, as she does for Hugh’s sister Patsy. But her reputation as the most effective woman since Lady MacBeth is well earned. Also delighted to have Hugh back is Edrita Everett Smith. She’s the girl next door—and the one who got away. As Hugh and Edrita reconnect, it seems that little has changed, and their old romance is ready to blossom again. But in this quiet, well-heeled suburb, nothing is as simple as it seems. As buried jealousies come to light and new schemes are hatched, Hugh will learn what it truly takes to forge his own path.