Picture of author.

Stephen Birmingham (1932–2015)

Teoksen "Our Crowd": The Great Jewish Families of New York tekijä

40+ teosta 2,406 jäsentä 26 arvostelua 1 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Stephen Gardner Birmingham was born in Andover, Connecticut on May 28, 1929. He received a degree in English from Williams College in 1950. Before becoming an author, he worked as an advertising copywriter in New York for Needham Harper Steers. His non-fiction books included Our Crowd: The Great näytä lisää Jewish Families of New York, The Right People: A Portrait of the American Social Establishment, The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite, The Rest of Us: The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews, Certain People: America's Black Elite, Real Lace: America's Irish Rich, and Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address. He also wrote nine novels including Young Mr. Keefe. He died from cancer on November 15, 2015 at the age of 86. (Bowker Author Biography) näytä vähemmän
Image credit: Stephen Birmingham (1929-2015), American author By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53927032

Tekijän teokset

America's Secret Aristocracy (1987) 132 kappaletta
The Auerbach Will (1983) 127 kappaletta
Real Lace: America's Irish Rich (1900) 99 kappaletta
Shades of Fortune (1989) 79 kappaletta
The Grandes Dames (1982) 73 kappaletta
The LeBaron Secret (1986) 60 kappaletta
California Rich (1980) 48 kappaletta
The Wrong Kind of Money (1997) 44 kappaletta
Carriage Trade (1993) 42 kappaletta
Those Harper Women (1964) 35 kappaletta
Fast start, fast finish (1966) 16 kappaletta
Young Mr. Keefe (1958) 11 kappaletta
The Power of Black: A Novel (1961) — Tekijä — 6 kappaletta
Barbara Greer (1959) 5 kappaletta
LES SECRETS DE FAMILLE (1985) 3 kappaletta
The towers of love (2016) 3 kappaletta
Heart troubles short stories (1969) 2 kappaletta
LA SOMBRA DE LA FORTUNA (1990) 2 kappaletta
Heart Troubles (1986) 2 kappaletta
Veien til Helen 1 kappale

Associated Works

All the Right People (1986) — Esipuhe — 13 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Virallinen nimi
Birmingham, Stephen Gardner
Syntymäaika
1932-05-28
Kuolinaika
2015-11-15
Sukupuoli
male
Kansalaisuus
USA
Syntymäpaikka
Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Kuolinpaikka
New York, New York, USA
Asuinpaikat
Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Koulutus
Williams College, English (AB ∙ 1953)
Ammatit
professor
raconteur
novelist
Organisaatiot
University of Cincinnati
New England Society of the City of New York
Coffee House (New York)
Palkinnot ja kunnianosoitukset
Phi Beta Kappa
Agentti
Carol Brandt
Lyhyt elämäkerta
Stephen Birmingham, born May 28, 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut, is an author.

Born to Thomas Birmingham and Editha Gardner Birmingham, he received a BA from Williams College in 1953. He is a former teacher of writing at the University of Cincinnati. He has written over thirty books and is now retired. Birmingham has written extensively about the upper classes in America.

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

A poignant and unforgettable rags-to-riches family saga following three generations of a remarkable clan from downtown ghetto to Park Avenue opulence



Marrying Jack Auerbach was Essie Litsky’s salvation, enabling her to break free of her strict Russian-Jewish immigrant parents and escape New York’s poor, dirty, overcrowded Lower East Side. Together with her husband, Essie amassed a fortune that dwarfed their wildest dreams: She was living in a grand mansion on Park Avenue, collecting priceless art, even conferring with a US president.

But money could never buy the affection of family or compensate for the true love Essie let slip away. And now, as she nears the end of her life, she must contend with blackmail and heartless legal assaults coming at her from all sides, the result of the ugly, persisting greed of her own children and grandchildren. But Essie is not dead yet, and those who underestimate the remarkable old woman are in for a shocking and powerful surprise.



In this New York Times bestseller, Stephen Birmingham, acclaimed chronicler of the lives of the super-rich and author of “Our Crowd”, introduces three generations of a singular family as it moves from poverty to privilege over the course of a cataclysmic century, led by one of the most endearing and unforgettable heroines in modern American fiction.
**

About the Author
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.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
kent23124 | May 19, 2023 |
#152. [Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address], [[Stephen Birmingham]]

When this apartment building was built 1880-84 it was said in New York City to be so far west it must be in the Dakota Territory and the Clark family named it thus. The Dakota was extremely unique in its architecture, construction and the layout of the apartments but it had two major issues to overcome. New York society was settled in large mansions on the east side, led by Mrs. Astor and secondly although apartments (flats) were common in Europe they weren’t in America and the Dakota was trying to set a new trend. One that took some time to be accepted.
Birmingham, in a long, slow style, goes into great detail on the history of the Dakota up to the late 1970’s: the various tenants, the decor of different apartments, the renovations and the removal of much of the original wood and plaster work, the turning of an original elevator car into a bar, the turning of it into a co-operative in the early 1960’s and much more.
The detail was more than I expected. Perhaps if I were an American instead of a Canadian perhaps the family names would have meant more, although I expect one needs to be from New York City to fully appreciate the ‘who’s who’ details. He even goes into the accounts and the accompanying correspondence. By the end of it I was scanning the chapters. I think most readers would find it dense.

Reviewed September 4, 2022

📚📚1/2
… (lisätietoja)
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
pmarshall | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 4, 2022 |
I read this book when it first came out, and now, 54 years later, it was interesting to listen to the audio version of this book and realize that most of the great banking institutions set up by this close knit group of German Jews residing in New York City are no more, and how these proud people’s way of life is now as extinct as the dodo bird.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
etxgardener | Jul 12, 2021 |
I give this book three stars, but it would be 3 1/2 if possible. I wasn't expecting much when I started the book on a whim. While it dragged in some spots (sometimes Mr. Birmingham didn't seem to know when to rein it in), the history of the building and it's residents was quite entertaining. The book was nicely formatted in a way that I could read it in bits over several days without losing the thread of the story. (Mostly because there wasn't much of a thread to lose.)

I recommend this book, if for nothing other than the omg, really!? history of Isaac Singer, inventor of Singer sewing machines and the 1970's-tastic description of Roberta Flack's apartment.… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
tiasreads | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 11, 2019 |

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Jäseniä
2,406
Suosituimmuussija
#10,661
Arvio (tähdet)
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Kirja-arvosteluja
26
ISBN:t
173
Kielet
3
Kuinka monen suosikki
1

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