Writer Writes

Stephen Birmingham, a New York Times bestselling writer, spent his career looking closely at wealthy American society. Over thirty books bear his name. Certain People examined the African American upper class, while Our Crowd traced the prominent Jewish families of New York. The Grandees told the story of America's Sephardic elite, and The Rest of Us followed the rise of Eastern European Jews in the United States.

Born in Connecticut in 1929, Birmingham studied at Williams College. He drew on his familiarity with the private lives of the rich and famous to write both bestselling novels and nonfiction. His books portray old-money WASP families, Jewish communities, African American enclaves and Irish society, and they explore the American dream along with the difficulties many people faced in reaching it.

In this memoir, Birmingham turns his attention to his own life. He recounts the experiences that shaped him and the stories that drew him toward writing, including tales of lavish wealth, fortunes built from nothing, and the workings of power and privilege. As he describes his own path, his life begins to mirror the high-society figures he spent decades documenting.