Amazon.co.uk: Understand why the upper class has had difficulty in America

Understand why the upper class has had difficulty in America
A Listmania! list by RLA

1. American Blue Blood: The Challenge of Coming of Age in Upper Class America by William C. Codington

The list author says:
	"Upper class Philadelphia Main Line family, torn apart by late 20th century social change, finds its aristocratic heritage meaningless as country moves toward meritocracy. Beautifully written."

�9.86 Used & New from: �9.61

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2. The Great Gatsby: The Authorised text by Matthew J. Bruccoli

The list author says:
	"Where America’s upper class is no more than “the idle rich,” it is doomed. Understand this novel and you will understand why upper class families in America are ephemeral."

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(390 customer reviews)

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3. Old Money: Mythology of Wealth in America by Nelson W. Aldrich

The list author says:
	"No better examination of Old Money culture and how it is challenged by the self-made man, whom America holds in higher esteem. Old Money attitudes are an inheritance of educational & aesthetic values."

�13.95 Used & New from: �6.15

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4. The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt

The list author says:
	"Upper class WASP family desperately holds on to summer home that’s been in family 100 years. If it goes, so goes connection to family’s past. Story symbolic of expiring upper class WASP culture."

Used & New from: �0.60

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5. The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss

The list author says:
	"WASP upper class lost its way because it didn't live up to its own moral standards. It has only itself to blame for loosing the moral and aesthetic high ground it once owned."

Used & New from: �3.36

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6. Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain by Evelyn Waugh

The list author says:
	"Although guilt is at the center of this novel, it is also about the decline of the English aristocracy. Powerful, beautiful, memorable."

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(74 customer reviews)

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7. An American Aristocracy: The Livingstons by Clare Brandt

The list author says:
	"European-style aristocracy has had a foothold in America in just a handful of instances. This is a nicely written history of one such incident and one such family: the Livingstons of the Hudson River"

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8. The Kennedys: An American Drama by Peter Collier

The list author says:
	"Issues around social class play a major role in the Kennedy saga. This family’s history provides great insight into the American upper class culture. Every student of the upper class should know it."

�9.89 Used & New from: �6.26

(2 customer reviews)

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9. Crashing the Gates: The De-Wasping of America's Power Elite by Robert C. Christopher

The list author says:
	"How higher education, economic advancement, and increasing intermarriage between ethnic groups and classes has molded a new American society no longer under the thumb of WASPs."

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10. The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America by Baltzell

The list author says:
	"Baltzell coined the acronym WASP and first used it in this, his best known book. His thesis here is: WASP culture is not inclusive, has become a caste rather than a class, and this is bad for the US"

�26.60 Used & New from: �7.95

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11. Philadelphia Gentlemen by E.Digby Baltzell

The list author says:
	"Definitive description and analysis of Philadelphia’s WASP upper class prior to ‘60s era social upheaval. Thoroughly researched, full of detail, a must-read for serious scholars of the upper class."

�21.38 Used & New from: �18.56

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12. Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia by E.Digby Baltzell

The list author says:
	"Comparison of upper classes in Boston and Philadelphia: a must-read for serious scholars of the upper class. Provides extraordinary insight into the social currents flowing through America’s history."

Used & New from: �17.98

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13. The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy (Vintage) by David Cannadine

The list author says:
	"To understand America’s upper class, you must understand the British aristocracy; it held the lion’s share of wealth & power, but now that’s gone. A must-read for serious students of the upper class."

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14. Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks

The list author says:
	"Includes an excellent chapter on the demise of the old WASP upper class."

�7.00 Used & New from: �0.01

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15. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

The list author says:
	"Who better to explain American democracy than an aristocrat? He sees what we don't see. Understand why America's upper class has had a difficult time."

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16. The Way of the W.A.S.P.: How it Made America and How it Can Save it...So to Speak by Richard Brookhiser

The list author says:
	"America's founders were WASPs, whose ethic formed the nation’s character. However, WASPs have now gone astray, and without the continuing influence of WASP values, America has lost its way."

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17. The Decline of the Wasp. by Peter Schrag

The list author says:
	"Peter Schrag, himself Jewish, celebrates the fact that Jews have achieved dominance in the upper levels of American society."

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18. Class: A Guide through the American Status System by Fussell

The list author says:
	"Exquisitely observed guide to the signs, symbols, and customs of the American class system; skewers the upper classes."

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(31 customer reviews)

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19. Casualties of Privilege: Essays on Prep Schools' Hidden Culture by Louis M. Crosier

The list author says:
	"Inside look into some of the dark realities of our nation's elite boarding schools."

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20. Preparing for Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools by Peter W. Cookson

The list author says:
	"The boarding school mission is described in detail: upper class young are asked to live up to high ideals. If they would live by them as adults, an aristocratic upper class would flourish in America."

�13.99 Used & New from: �1.69

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21. The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand

The list author says:
	"Although Boston Brahmins were at the top just before the second World War, they would soon become a dying breed. A gentle satire of what the upper class once was."

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22. The Magnificent Ambersons (Modern Library) by Booth Tarkington

The list author says:
	"Decline of a leading family of a Midwestern city. George Amberson Minafer is spoiled heir to the Amberson fortune, but America now entering the automobile age, and the family is ill equipped to deal w"

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23. Age of Innocence (Modern Library) by Edith Wharton

The list author says:
	"Read this book for a view of what America's upper class once was."

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24. The Education of Henry Adams (Oxford World's Classics) by Henry Adams

The list author says:
	"Scion of patrician family feels that successive waves of immigration are not the real America; his home and place have been stolen. Adam’s education is the story of his disillusionment."

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25. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

The list author says:
	"Evocative portrayal of the opulent desolation of wealthy WASP suburbs. Conveys, with brilliant erudition, the exacting cost of chasing the American dream."

Used & New from: �0.01