Synopses & Reviews
andlt;B andgt;In real estateand#8211;obsessed New York, no new building has captured the cityand#8217;s imaginationand#8212;or as many of its richest residentsand#8212;as Fifteen Central Park West.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;In andlt;I andgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/Iandgt;, Americaand#8217;s foremost chronicler of the upper crust, journalist and bestselling author Michael Gross, turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland thatand#8217;s sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Mixing an absorbing business epic with hilarious social comedy, Gross creates a dishy exposand#233; of todayand#8217;s wealthiest and most famous. This colorful story recounts the recordsetting buildingand#8217;s inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially dand#233;classand#233; Manhattan neighborhood.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;With two concierge-staffed lobbies, a walnut-lined library, a lavish screening room, a private sixty-seat restaurant offering residents room service, a health club complete with a seventy-foot swimming pool, and penthouses that cost almost $100 million, Fifteen is the most outrageously successful, insanely expensive, titanically tycoon-stuffed real estate development of the twenty-first century. And any building thatand#8217;s home to such unimaginable wealth and heavyweight egosand#8212;its cast of characters includes Denzel Washington, Sting, Alex Rodriguez, Norman Lear, NASCARand#8217;s Jeff Gordon, hedge fund heads Daniel Loeb and Daniel Och, Russian and Chinese oligarchs, and top executives of Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, AIG, Disney, Google, and Yahoo!, among many moreand#8212;will be chock-full of jaw-dropping excess.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Gross won unprecedented access to the people behind this instantly legendary building, including the scions of the fabled Zeckendorf real estate dynasty; their financial backers, Goldman Sachs and Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer; and their and#8220;starchitect,and#8221; Robert A. M. Stern. Then he drilled past its limestone faand#231;ade to ferret out the stories Fifteenand#8217;s fathers and its residents donand#8217;t want told. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;More than just an apartment building, 15CPW represents a massive paradigm shift in the lifestyle of New Yorkand#8217;s rich and famousand#8212;and is a bellwether of the cityand#8217;s changing social and financial landscape. With its dazzling detail, andlt;I andgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/Iandgt; is a sweeping history of those changes, and it pulls open wide the gilded walls of Fifteen to reveal the private lives of that .01 percent.
Review
"andlt;iandgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/iandgt; pulls back the limestone curtain of 15 Central Park West to reveal seismic shifts in New York society and the astonishing lifestyle-without-limits of the new global elite. It's a dishy--but not trashy--page-turner."
Review
"Michael Gross has done it again! In intricate and revelatory detail, he shows how Fifteen Central Park West became the most famous and talked-about building in Manhattan: It's the people who live there, of course, and Gross gives us a front-row seat on their passions, their antics and why they want the very best money can buy."
Review
"Both an incisive social commentary on our modern Gilded Age and an irresistible peek behind the walls of 15 Central Park West, otherwise known as "Limestone Jesus." With characteristic audacity and wit, Michael Gross has deftly chronicled the immense egos (and bank accounts) of the nouveau riche who reside at Manhattan's most coveted address."
Review
"Want to understand what Occupy Wall Street was about? In andlt;iandgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/iandgt;, Michael Gross explains it--and then some. With a rollicking, informative history of New York City, tales of mega real estate fortunes made and lost, and dizzying examples of the super-wealthy's greed and ostentation, Gross deftly traces the arc of America both socially and financially and proves that the top two percent most certainly do not live like you or I."
Review
"Michael Gross captures the phenomenon that is 15 Central Park West, where creative talent, towering ambition and unimaginable wealth instill a magical aura of glamour and romance not seen in a Gotham apartment house since the Gatsby era."
Review
andlt;Bandgt; andlt;/Bandgt;and#8220;Michael Gross's HOUSE OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE is a book about a building the way MOBY DICK is a book about a fish. History, real-estate wheeling and dealing, the economics of the buccaneer class, the arcane realpolitik of condos and co-ops, even floor-plans: it's all here. If you want to find out why Manhattan's skyline looks the way it currently does, this is the book to read.and#8221;
Review
"House of Outrageous Fortune pulls back the limestone curtain of 15 Central Park West to reveal seismic shifts in New York society and the astonishing lifestyle-without-limits of the new global elite. It's a dishy--but not trashy--page-turner." Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group and star of ABC ' s Shark Tank
Review
"A deliciously detailed and completely engaging look at how the 0.1 percent live in one building."
Review
and#8220;Michael Grossand#8230;rules the school of literature you might call Books about Buildings Where Lots of Rich People Liveand#8221;
Review
"As much fun as any thriller or fiction."
Review
"Demonstrates conclusively the abiding truth of Clare Boothe Luceand#8217;s observation, and#8220;Money canand#8217;t buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while youand#8217;re being miserable."
Review
"Michael Gross, an author with a delicate appreciation for bloated egos and wealth, makes them glitter in 'House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World's Most Powerful Address.' The intersecting strands of money, politics, greed, taste, ambition shine brightly."
Synopsis
America's foremost chronicler of the .01 % and bestselling author of 740 Park reveals the social drama and absorbing business saga of Manhattan's record-setting address.
In real estate-obsessed New York, no new building has captured the city's imagination--or as many of its richest residents--as Fifteen Central Park West.
In House of Outrageous Fortune, America's foremost chronicler of the upper crust, journalist and bestselling author Michael Gross, turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland that's sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Mixing an absorbing business epic with hilarious social comedy, Gross creates a dishy expose of today's wealthiest and most famous. This colorful story recounts the recordsetting building's inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially declasse Manhattan neighborhood.
With two concierge-staffed lobbies, a walnut-lined library, a lavish screening room, a private sixty-seat restaurant offering residents room service, a health club complete with a seventy-foot swimming pool, and penthouses that cost almost $100 million, Fifteen is the most outrageously successful, insanely expensive, titanically tycoon-stuffed real estate development of the twenty-first century. And any building that's home to such unimaginable wealth and heavyweight egos--its cast of characters includes Denzel Washington, Sting, Alex Rodriguez, Norman Lear, NASCAR's Jeff Gordon, hedge fund heads Daniel Loeb and Daniel Och, Russian and Chinese oligarchs, and top executives of Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, AIG, Disney, Google, and Yahoo , among many more--will be chock-full of jaw-dropping excess.
Gross won unprecedented access to the people behind this instantly legendary building, including the scions of the fabled Zeckendorf real estate dynasty; their financial backers, Goldman Sachs and Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer; and their "starchitect," Robert A. M. Stern. Then he drilled past its limestone facade to ferret out the stories Fifteen's fathers and its residents don't want told.
More than just an apartment building, 15CPW represents a massive paradigm shift in the lifestyle of New York's rich and famous--and is a bellwether of the city's changing social and financial landscape. With its dazzling detail, House of Outrageous Fortune is a sweeping history of those changes, and it pulls open wide the gilded walls of Fifteen to reveal the private lives of that .01 percent.
Synopsis
In real estate-obsessed New York, no new building has captured the city's imagination--or as many of its richest residents--as Fifteen Central Park West.
In House of Outrageous Fortune, America's foremost chronicler of the upper crust, journalist and bestselling author Michael Gross, turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland that's sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Mixing an absorbing business epic with hilarious social comedy, Gross creates a dishy expos of today's wealthiest and most famous. This colorful story recounts the recordsetting building's inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially d class Manhattan neighborhood.
With two concierge-staffed lobbies, a walnut-lined library, a lavish screening room, a private sixty-seat restaurant offering residents room service, a health club complete with a seventy-foot swimming pool, and penthouses that cost almost $100 million, Fifteen is the most outrageously successful, insanely expensive, titanically tycoon-stuffed real estate development of the twenty-first century. And any building that's home to such unimaginable wealth and heavyweight egos--its cast of characters includes Denzel Washington, Sting, Alex Rodriguez, Norman Lear, NASCAR's Jeff Gordon, hedge fund heads Daniel Loeb and Daniel Och, Russian and Chinese oligarchs, and top executives of Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, AIG, Disney, Google, and Yahoo , among many more--will be chock-full of jaw-dropping excess.
Gross won unprecedented access to the people behind this instantly legendary building, including the scions of the fabled Zeckendorf real estate dynasty; their financial backers, Goldman Sachs and Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer; and their "starchitect," Robert A. M. Stern. Then he drilled past its limestone fa ade to ferret out the stories Fifteen's fathers and its residents don't want told.
More than just an apartment building, 15CPW represents a massive paradigm shift in the lifestyle of New York's rich and famous--and is a bellwether of the city's changing social and financial landscape. With its dazzling detail, House of Outrageous Fortune is a sweeping history of those changes, and it pulls open wide the gilded walls of Fifteen to reveal the private lives of that .01 percent.
Synopsis
Americaand#8217;s foremost chronicler of the .01 % and bestselling author of andlt;I andgt;740 Parkandlt;/Iandgt; reveals the social drama and absorbing business saga of Manhattanand#8217;s record-setting address.andlt;brandgt;andlt;brandgt;Michael Grossand#8217;s andlt;Iandgt;740 Parkandlt;/Iandgt; captured the private world of old-money New York. Now, picking up the mantle of the late Dominick Dunne in an engrossing synthesis of business epic, social comedy, and gimlet-eyed exposand#233;, Gross takes us inside the nouveau-riche world of the southwest rim of Central Parkand#8212;ground zero for the rise of todayand#8217;s cash crop of world figures, including Denzel Washington, Alex Rodriquez, NASCARand#8217;s Jeff Gordon, and Sting, hedge fund runners, Russian oligarchs, and the heads of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Google, and Yahoo!, who live larger than anyone in history. They are the men and women who are redefining what it means to be rich andlt;Iandgt;right nowandlt;/Iandgt;.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Granted unprecedented access to the Zeckendorfs, New Yorkand#8217;s premier real estate dynasty, Gross offers a penetrating look at their billion-dollar development and into the mindset of its residents, todayand#8217;s upper-crust. With its two concierge-staffed lobbies, walnut-lined library, screening room, sixty-seat dining room with a private chef offering room service, and subterranean health club, Fifteen Central Park West emerges as a character in itselfand#8212;a towering Olympus for plutocrats whose power and excess stand as emblems of our age of extreme inequality.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Mixing glorious achievement, dubious power plays, and sordid decadence in a crackling good narrative, andlt;Iandgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/Iandgt; is a jaw-dropping tour of a world most can barely imagine.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;and#8220;andlt;Iandgt;House of Outrageous Fortuneandlt;/Iandgt; pulls back the limestone curtain of 15 Central Park West to reveal seismic shifts in New York society and the astonishing lifestyle-without-limits of the new global elite. Itand#8217;s a dishyand#8212;but not trashyand#8212;page-turnerand#8221; (Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group and star of ABCand#8217;s and#8220;Shark Tankand#8221;).
About the Author
Michael Gross is the author of andlt;i andgt;Unreal Estate, Roguesand#8217; Galleryandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;740 Parkandlt;/iandgt;, andandlt;i andgt; Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Womenandlt;/iandgt;. A contributing editor of andlt;i andgt;Travel + Leisureandlt;/iandgt;, he created the blog andlt;i andgt;Gripepad andlt;/iandgt;and has written for andlt;i andgt;Vanity Fairandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;Esquireandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;GQandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;New Yorkandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;The New York Times, Theandlt;/iandgt; andlt;i andgt;Daily Beast/Newsweekandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;i andgt;Huffington Post,andlt;/iandgt; and other publications.