Author Talk: Michael M. Grynbaum and "Empire of the Elite" (NWL)

About the Book

For decades, Condé Nast and its glittering magazines defined how to live the good life in America. The brilliant, complicated, striving characters behind Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, and many other titles manufactured a vision of luxury and sophistication that shaped consumer habits, cultural trends, intellectual attitudes, and political beliefs the world over. Condé’s billionaire owner Si Newhouse and his stable of star editors, photographers, and writers were the gatekeepers who decided what and who mattered, and they offered those opinions to tens of millions of readers every month. They were the ultimate influencers—before social media changed everything. The magazines crowned celebrities by the dozens, patronized creative talent much as the Medicis had underwritten Renaissance artists, and supercharged opulent events like the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and the Met Gala. Empire of the Elite is full of fresh behind-the-scenes reporting about a sprawling cast of boldface names and sets out to explain how Condé Nast established itself as a de facto American aristocracy, anointing an elite and dictating the culture it presided over.

About the Author

Michael M. Grynbaum is a correspondent for The New York Times, where he covers media, politics, and culture. Grynbaum is a second-generation West Hartford native and a 2003 graduate of Hall High School. Since joining The New York Times as a staff writer at age twenty-two, he has reported on three presidential campaigns, two New York City mayors, and the 2008 financial crisis. He holds a degree from Harvard in history and literature, and lives in Manhattan with his wife and cat. This is his first book.

Registration required. Registration opens one month before the program at 7:00pm.