Sherman’s Recollections of California, 1846-1848, 1855-1857, from his Memoirs-William Tecumseh Sherman

In this 1907 novel about the extravagant life of New York City’s high society, the author of The Jungle, presents a portrait of the wealthy elite. Allan Montague, a lawyer of thirty, moves to New York City from Mississippi, along with his mother and cousin Alice, to join his younger brother Oliver, who had moved to the city few years before. Allan discover that Oliver has become a member of a fast-paced social circuit comprising some of the most powerful members of the business class. Oliver introduces Allan to this exclusive group hoping that it will help Allan’s business. Sinclair describes the party life of the very rich, who spend vast sums of money on entertainment and new toys. Expensive cars, private trains, dinners attended by liveried servants, clothing costing thousands of dollars are described with attention to the enormous cost of it all. The author describing the alcoholism, marital affairs, malicious gossip, backstabbing, and shallow values of the wealthy of this Society. (Summary by Richard Kilmer)