(October 2008)
This is my most recent book and will be published October 20, to coincide
with the hundredth anniversary of the death of Caroline Astor. I have long
been fascinated by Gilded Age American Society. When I was little, I used
to borrow books from the local library featuring stories and photographs of
the great houses of the age-The Breakers, Biltmore, Marble House, and
Rosecliff-and eagerly read tales of the Vanderbilts and Astors. My interest
in the period even came before that in the Romanovs.
From an early age, I began to collect books, photographs, and other
materials related to the Gilded Age, not quite sure what I would do with
them other than a vague idea that someday I might like to write about the
period. In 1993, this idea took a more firm hold when I read a book called
King Lehr and the Gilded Age, a chronicle of a man named Harry Lehr, an
outrageous, foppish homosexual who planned society¹s parties and acted as
Mrs. Astor¹s unofficial court jester. Deciding I would like to do a
biography of Harry, I embarked on serious research, adding to my already
existing collection of Gilded Age memoirs and materials. In the end,
however, Harry proved too difficult a figure around which to build a book.
In the summer of 1997, I spent several months on America's East Coast,
making return visits to New York and Newport, and undertaking research for a
more general work on the era as a whole with a particular focus on the
Astors, the Vanderbilts, and other great families. I was also especially
fortunate to befriend the late Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill, sister to the
Duke of Marlborough and favorite granddaughter of Consuelo Vanderbilt.
While working with Sarah on her own memoirs, I also thus had unique access
to materials and stories of the gilded age that Consuelo had passed on to
Sarah. Sarah and I discussed the Gilded Age book at great length, fleshing
out the personalities, the feuds, the rumors, and the scandals of which she
had intimate knowledge; I am happy to say that much of what Sarah shared
with me, particularly in terms of assessing the age and re-evaluating
preconceived ideas about what is generally dismissed as a hedonistic group
of moneyed wastrels, is infused throughout the book.
A Season in Splendor duplicates the same format as The Court of the Last
Tsar. Covering the period from 1883 to 1912, individual chapters focus on
the Astors, the Vanderbilts, Harry Lehr, and other personalities; on the
great houses of New York City, of the Berkshires, and of Newport; of Gilded
Age servants, clothing, jewelry, and transportation; of the great parties,
dinners, and balls that society enjoyed; and of the scandals that eventually
turned public opinion in America against the excesses of the era. It
re-awakened in me an interest in certain aspects of American social history
as well and has led me to explore other similar, potential topics for future
works.
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c. Greg King, 2008