Williamsburg Regional Library

WASPs, the splendors and miseries of an American aristocracy, Michael Knox Beran

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

genealogical tablesportraitsillustrations

index present

non fiction

WASPs

bibliography

1202304525

Michael Knox Beran

the splendors and miseries of an American aristocracy

Charming, witty, and vigorously researched, WASPS traces the rise and fall of this distinctly American phenomenon through the lives of prominent icons from Henry Adams to Theodore Roosevelt, from George Santayana to John Jay Chapman, from Babe Paley to Edie Sedgwick. Envied and lampooned, misunderstood and yet distinctly American, WASPs are as much a culture, socioeconomic and ethnic designation, and state of mind. Throughout this dynamic story, Beran chronicles the efforts of WASPs to use their position to better the world around them, as well as the struggles of these WASPs to break free from their restrictive culture. The death of George H. W. Bush brought about reflections on the end of patrician WASP culture, where privilege reigned, but so did a genuine desire to use that privilege for public service. As we examine the post-Trump era, many look at the John Kerry, Bobby Kennedy, and Philip and Kay Grahams of the world with wistfulness. And even though we are a more diverse and pluralistic nation now than ever before, there is something about WASP culture that remains aspirational and fascinating. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, Beran's saga dramatizes the evolving American aristocracy that forever changed a nation--and what we can still glean from WASP culture in the twenty-first century

Twilight of the wasps -- A dying race -- Mrs. Jack Gardner and her unlikely swan -- Henry Adams fails to reform America -- Cotty Peabody leaves the bank -- Mrs. Jack seeks a humanized society -- The lost hand of John Jay Chapman -- A glorious and most intensely interesting life -- The madonnas of Henry Adams -- A constancy in the stars: The Harvards of George Santayana -- Teddy -- Vida Scudder emulates St. Francis -- The visionary neurasthenics -- Billy Wag's paideia -- Henry Stimson sees the stars -- Pax Americana -- The great world and J.P. Morgan -- Mandarinism -- From Theodore at Armageddon to the new republic on west twenty-first street -- Franklin and Eleanor -- The wasps throw off Victorianism -- The new patricians in war -- The new patricians in peace -- Lost in the jazz age -- In the secret parts of fortune -- The waste land -- Young men who would return to the provinces -- Fear itself -- The terrors of the earth -- Joy Lane -- The death of men -- Pour le merite -- Centurions of an American century -- Burnt offerings: The ember days of the wasps -- The eutrapelian Imagination, or wasp neurasthenia-and ours -- Recessional: The wasp and God -- When we are gone

adult