The Plaza Author Julie Satow at Ferguson Library on June 13

On Thursday, June 13 at the Harry Bennett branch of Ferguson Library, Julie Satow will speak about her book The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel, her history of how one illustrious hotel has defined our understanding of money and glamour, from the Gilded Age to the Go-Go Eighties to today’s Billionaire Row. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served, and a book sale and signing will follow the talk.

 

The Plaza is the account of a vaunted New York City address that has become synonymous with wealth and scandal, opportunity and tragedy. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, it is the story of how one hotel became a mirror reflecting New York's place at the center of the country's cultural narrative for over a century.

 

In a starred review, Booklist writes of the book, "Readers will happily soak up period details and take notes on how the stalwart staff dealt with class snobbery, prohibition and gangsters, wartime privations, the turbulent 1960s, wealthy dowagers, blushing debutantes, persistent groupies, omnipresent prostitutes, and brawling Indian billionaires. This is social history at its best: thoughtful, engaging, and lots of fun."

Satow is an award-winning journalist who has covered real estate in New York City for more than a decade. A regular contributor to The New York Times, her work has also appeared on National Public Radio, the New York Post, The Daily Beast and elsewhere.