{"product_id":"flight-of-the-wasp-the-rise-fall-and-future-of-americas-original-ruling-class-9780802161871","title":"Flight of the Wasp: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America's Original Ruling Class","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFifteen families. Four hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in America's history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph Alsop to the editors of \u003ci\u003ePolitico\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Colonial America's founding settlements through the Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complex 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 progress, prosper and periodically 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 mis-use of astonishing economic and political power; an enduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with philanthropy; an equal capacity for irresponsible, sometimes wanton, behavior.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"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 \u003ci\u003e740 Park\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRogues' Gallery\u003c\/i\u003e, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the canvas, \u003ci\u003eFlight of the WASP\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles it across four centuries and fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to American history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-16096780\"\u003eMichael Gross\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Grove Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/22\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.03h x 5.35w x 1.42d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802161871\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0802161871\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO006000\"\u003eHistorical\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO013000\"\u003eRich \u0026amp; Famous\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS054000\"\u003eSocial History\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMICHAEL GROSS\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestsellers \u003ci\u003eModel\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e740 Park\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHouse of Outrageous Fortune\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as \u003ci\u003eRogues' Gallery\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMy Generation\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUnreal Estate\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFocus\u003c\/i\u003e. His journalism has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGQ\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications around the world. Online, he writes for \u003ci\u003eAir Mail\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e. Currently Editor at Large of \u003ci\u003ePalmer: The Palm Beach Reader\u003c\/i\u003e, he lives in New York City.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Grove Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43827351552139,"sku":"9780802161871","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0626\/5100\/7115\/files\/img_9fd7b89b-fd45-4f7e-9634-940d5153cacb.jpg?v=1755530691","url":"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/products\/flight-of-the-wasp-the-rise-fall-and-future-of-americas-original-ruling-class-9780802161871","provider":"CA Corrections Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}