Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time

How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power

De: Jennifer Wright

Narrado por: Ashlie Atkinson

From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige.

Marion Graves Anthon Fish, known by the nicknames “Mamie” and “The Fun-Maker,” threw the most epic parties in American history. This Gilded Age icon brought it all: lavish decor; A-list invitees; booze; pranks; and large animal guest stars. If you were a member of New York high society in the Peak Age of Innocence Era, you simply had to be on Mamie Fish’s guest list. Mamie Fish understood that people didn’t just need the formality of prior generations—they needed wit and whimsy.

Make no mistake, however: Mamie Fish’s story is about so much more than partying. In Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time, listeners will learn all about how Fish and her friends shaped the line of history, exerting their influence on business, politics, family relationships, and social change through elaborate social gatherings. In a time when women couldn’t even own property, let alone run for office, if women wanted any of the things men got outside the home—glory, money, attention, social networking, leadership roles—they had to do it by throwing a decadent soiree or chairing a cotillion.

To ensure people would hear and remember what she had to say, Mamie Fish lived her whole life at Volume 10, becoming famous not by playing the part of a saintly helpmeet, but by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly. It's time to let modern listeners in on the fun, the fabulousness, and the absolute ferocity that is Ms. Stuyvesant Fish—and her inimitable legacy.

©2025 Jennifer Wright (P)2025 Hachette Books

Bravo!

I cannot imagine a more delightful way to learn about and savor the Gilded Age. A proud fan of the television series, I admittedly relished continuing my fascination with the period. The era of Maimie Fish jumps off the page with a Pitch Perfect narration by her theatrical twin.

Loved it!

Lots of facts and laughs! Quick listen-read! May have to listen again to make sure I got all of the facts! Love the history of socialites

The Diva of Newport

As a Gilded Age fan and retired event planner, I approached this with excitement. The narrator is perfect; she knows just where to be sarcastic.
I also learned a lot about society in NYC at the turn of the 20th Century. Even though they didn’t have voting rights, they knew how to make their opinions known.
The event planner in me would love have partnered with Mamie.
Enjoy!

Terrible Book

This book is quite unbearable - snarky from start to finish with no new insights about the gilded age.