The Rich and Other Atrocities by Charlotte Curtiss
Curtis, Charlotte. The Rich and Other Atrocities. Second Printing. 1976. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in very good minus condition—jacket shows minor edgewear and fraying.
There were few opportunities for female journalists beyond the women’s page when Charlotte Curtis became society editor of the New York Times, but she changed the game by slipping sharp social commentary into her supposed puff pieces, subtle Easter eggs to be discovered by the discerning. Her subjects, expecting only flattery, were not amused. As Tom Wolfe explained, “It wasn’t anything she wrote that infuriated them. It was that she put down exactly what they said.” This collection gathers Curtis’s best work from the 1960s and 1970s, covering Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball, the heyday and decline of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the ever-changing rules of social advancement in America, a visit to La Leopolda, and much more.
“’I can never seat more than twenty-six at dinner,’ the duchess said, shaking her head. ‘It’s really quite small.’”
--Charlotte Curtis