"Our Crowd"

“A fascinating and absorbing chapter of New York social and financial history—it is hard to understand why it has never been written before.” —Louis Auchincloss

“When it comes to the folkways of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged, Stephen Birmingham knows what he’s talking about.” —Los Angeles Times

“Future American histories will have to take into account Mr. Birmingham’s financial and social history and imposing cast of characters.” —The New York Times Book Review

Among the Jewish families who emigrated from Germany to New York in the nineteenth century were the Loebs, the Goldmans, the Sachs, the Seligmans, and the Guggenheims, to name only a few. In New York, they quickly made their way from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side, building vast fortunes by dint of hard work and moving from the tenements where they initially lived to exquisite mansions on Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Yet, despite their acquired wealth, they were denied entry into the upper reaches of New York society—the so-called 400—because of their religion, modest origins, and recent arrival in America. “Our Crowd” tells the engrossing story of the extraordinary society they built in New York.