'Glamour! Taste! Prestige! Monsters! I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world' MARINA HYDE For decades, one company in New York told the world what to buy, value, wear, eat, and even what to think. From its glitzy heyday in the 1980s through to the 2000s, American publishing empire Condé Nast and its magazines - including Vogue, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and GQ - defined how to live the good life, with its editors and writers creating a vision of luxury and sophistication that shaped cultural and consumer trends and political beliefs the world over. The ultimate influencers, Condé Nast amassed great power but failed to foresee and keep up with the digital revolution that would reduce it to a shadow of its former self. Full of fresh insider reporting and venerated names like Anna Wintour, Tina Brown and Graydon Carter, Empire of the Elite is a groundbreaking exploration of how Condé Nast established itself as a global authority. But it is also a cautionary tale, exposing how class, hubris and technological change shook the dominance of the old media gatekeepers, even as Condé Nast's aesthetic and prestige remain undeniably influential to this day.
"Juicy, illuminating, and relentless in its reporting, making it a must read for anyone fascinated by media and its leviathans."-Town & Country
"The newest entry in the small but mesmerizing genre you might call Condé lit...this reported saga doubles as a shrewd cultural history of the 20th century."-New York Magazine
"The technical word for this book is juicy."-Christian Lorentzen, The New York Times Book Review
"Grynbaum's book has all the goods to induce mania in anyone with aspirations to work in media...
Ultimately, what do we long for when we long for the golden age of Condé Nast? It is the dream of having money - and taste."-Rachel Tashjian, Washington Post
"Grynbaum, a veteran reporter for the New York Times, fills his chronicle of Newhouse's half-century at the helm of the legendary publisher with enough gossip and arcana to satisfy even the most devoted of Condé Nast obsessives."-James Tarmy, Bloomberg
"A delightful and fascinating anthropological study of American culture in the '80s and '90s through the lens of Conde Nast."-Vogue, "The Run-Through"
"A definitive account of a media titan."
-Publishers Weekly
"A well-crafted portrait of a publishing house whose fortunes reflect those of the magazine industry as a whole."-Kirkus
"An anecdotal feast."-Peter Osnos, founder and editor at large of PublicAffairs books
"I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world, and the emperors and empresses who made it. Mike Grynbaum is the perfect smart and wry chronicler of that age of haute hubris, which has been replaced with something a lot less spirited and fun. This book should be served with cocktails and a cackle."-Marina Hyde, columnist, The Guardian, co-host, The Rest Is Entertainment
"As someone who grew up worshipping several Condé Nast titles and using them to become an adult, I've been waiting for a book like Empire of the Elite for decades. Every page is entertaining, smart, and generous toward the many players in this unique saga. Grynbaum also has a wicked sense of humor that made me grin and sometimes even helplessly laugh."
-Gary Shteyngart, author, Super Sad True Love Story
"The newest entry in the small but mesmerizing genre you might call Condé lit...this reported saga doubles as a shrewd cultural history of the 20th century."-New York Magazine
"The technical word for this book is juicy."-Christian Lorentzen, The New York Times Book Review
"Grynbaum's book has all the goods to induce mania in anyone with aspirations to work in media...
Ultimately, what do we long for when we long for the golden age of Condé Nast? It is the dream of having money - and taste."-Rachel Tashjian, Washington Post
"Grynbaum, a veteran reporter for the New York Times, fills his chronicle of Newhouse's half-century at the helm of the legendary publisher with enough gossip and arcana to satisfy even the most devoted of Condé Nast obsessives."-James Tarmy, Bloomberg
"A delightful and fascinating anthropological study of American culture in the '80s and '90s through the lens of Conde Nast."-Vogue, "The Run-Through"
"A definitive account of a media titan."
-Publishers Weekly
"A well-crafted portrait of a publishing house whose fortunes reflect those of the magazine industry as a whole."-Kirkus
"An anecdotal feast."-Peter Osnos, founder and editor at large of PublicAffairs books
"I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world, and the emperors and empresses who made it. Mike Grynbaum is the perfect smart and wry chronicler of that age of haute hubris, which has been replaced with something a lot less spirited and fun. This book should be served with cocktails and a cackle."-Marina Hyde, columnist, The Guardian, co-host, The Rest Is Entertainment
"As someone who grew up worshipping several Condé Nast titles and using them to become an adult, I've been waiting for a book like Empire of the Elite for decades. Every page is entertaining, smart, and generous toward the many players in this unique saga. Grynbaum also has a wicked sense of humor that made me grin and sometimes even helplessly laugh."
-Gary Shteyngart, author, Super Sad True Love Story