A novelist who has specialized in creating tales of the rich and well placed offers an insider's view of one of the wealthiest segments of an affluent city: Jewish upper--class life in New York. Working with diaries, letters, and personal reminiscences supplied by members of interwoven families--Loeb, Lehman, straus, seligman, and Guggenheism, among others--Stephen Birmingham has assembled a remarkable composite portrait. some of his tales are wildly...