Empire of the Elite

'Glamour! Taste! Prestige! Monsters! I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world' MARINA HYDE'A spyhole onto the end of a fabulous, doomed era. Glossy, glamorous, pure indulgence' ERIN KELLY'So juicy and fun, such a delightful and fascinating account and anthropological study of American culture in the 80s and 90s through the lens of Conde Nast' VOGUE.COMFor 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 influencer, 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 ground-breaking 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.

Michael M. Grynbaum is a correspondent for The New York Times, where he covers media, politics, and culture. Since joining the newspaper at age twenty-two, he has reported on three presidential campaigns and the transformation of the media world in the Trump era. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in history and literature, and lives in Manhattan. This is his first book.