{"product_id":"flight-of-the-wasp-the-rise-fall-and-future-of-americas-original-ruling-class-9780802161864","title":"Flight of the Wasp: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America's Original Ruling Class","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFifteen families.\u003cbr\u003eFour hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in\u003cbr\u003eAmerica's history. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph\u003cbr\u003eAlsop to the editors of \u003ci\u003ePolitico\u003c\/i\u003e have proclaimed the\u003cbr\u003ediminishment of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who for generations were the\u003cbr\u003edominant socio-cultural-political force in America. While the WASP elite has, \u003cbr\u003ein the last half century, indeed drifted from American centrality to the\u003cbr\u003eperiphery, its relevance and impact remain, as Michael Gross reveals in his\u003cbr\u003ecompelling chronicle.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Colonial America's founding settlements through\u003cbr\u003ethe Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complex legacy of American WASPs--their\u003cbr\u003eprofound accomplishments and egregious failures--through the lives of fifteen\u003cbr\u003einfluential individuals and their very privileged, sometimes intermarried\u003cbr\u003efamilies. As the Bradford, Randolph, Morris, Biddle, Sanford, Peabody and\u003cbr\u003eWhitney clans progress, prosper and periodically stumble, defining aspects in\u003cbr\u003ethe four-century sweep of American history emerge: our wide, oft-contentious\u003cbr\u003ereligious diversity; the deep scars of slavery, genocide, and intolerance; the\u003cbr\u003ecreation and sometime mis-use of astonishing economic and political power; an\u003cbr\u003eenduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with\u003cbr\u003ephilanthropy; 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,\"\u003cbr\u003ewrites Gross, \"but for most of our history we have had a patriciate, an\u003cbr\u003earistocracy, a hereditary oligarchic upper class, who initiated the American\u003cbr\u003enational experiment.\" In previous acclaimed books such as \u003ci\u003e740 Park\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRogues'\u003cbr\u003eGallery\u003c\/i\u003e, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the\u003cbr\u003ecanvas, \u003ci\u003e Flight of the WASP\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles it across four centuries\u003cbr\u003eand fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to\u003cbr\u003eAmerican history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Atlantic Monthly Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/14\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802161864\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.06h x 5.83w x 1.81d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2023 pg. 7\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/04\/2023\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Michael Gross","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43140460544181,"sku":"9780802161864","price":25.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_f5aac99d-b0e6-4a81-be09-e4a810c51e02.jpg?v=1695699677","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/flight-of-the-wasp-the-rise-fall-and-future-of-americas-original-ruling-class-9780802161864","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}