A New York Times and New Yorker Editors’ Pick
“A beguiling look at an era that inaugurated an ever-widening rift between a self-satisfied elite and a resentful working class.” — Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
In Triumph of the Yuppies, Tom McGrath presents the first-ever book-length history of the Yuppie phenomenon, chronicling the roots, rise, triumph and (seeming) fall of the “young urban professionals” who radically altered American life between 1980 and 1987.
By the time their obituary was being written in the late 1980s, Yuppies had become a cultural punchline. But amidst their preoccupation with money, work, and the latest status symbols, something serious was happening, something that continues to have profound ramifications on American culture four decades later.
Brimming with lively and nostalgic details (think Jane Fonda, The Sharper Image, and over-the-top fashion), Triumph of the Yuppies is a portrait of America just as it was beginning to come apart—and the origin story of the fractured America we live in today.
Praise for Triumph of the Yuppies
“A searing cultural analysis of a time—bookended by the rise of conservatism and Ronald Reagan and the fall of the Iron Curtain and Berlin Wall—when a new corporate elite was born, all seemingly at the expense of the blue-collar man.” — The Observer
“An entertaining recap of when a certain type of young urban professional ruled the country….But this era wasn’t all just a matter of branded water, trendy restaurants, Rolexes and Rolodexes, as McGrath shows. Behind the queasy fascination with yuppies lay a fracturing middle class and a growing gap between the affluent and everyone else.” — The New Yorker (editors’ pick)
“Insightful and immensely entertaining.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Penetrating” — Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
“McGrath makes this open pursuit of wealth his central theme as he alternates among snapshots of yuppies, the national political scene and major figures in American business…. [Today] graduating from an elite college and moving to the city to try to get rich has become so common that we barely notice it.” — New York Times Book Review (cover story and Editors’ Pick)
“Engaging, well-researched…Triumph of the Yuppies is at once illuminating and extremely depressing, a reminder of the havoc the boomer generation has wrought—and will continue to wreak, since it now plans to live forever. But the book also provides a useful reverse roadmap for reviving a more humane existence.” — Bloomberg
“In his highly readable…account, McGrath questions where Yuppies came from, whether they’ve really disappeared, and how much impact they had in the overall direction of the country. He doesn’t miss a beat.” — New York Post
“A witty and occasionally sobering account of the era in which the haves and the have-nots broke up for good.” — Boston Globe
“McGrath neatly integrates his comprehensive research with brief, magazine-style profiles….Those who lived through the time will find themselves nodding (and perhaps smiling) in recognition at his concise evocations of shared cultural touchstones like the TV series Dallas, the Jane Fonda-inspired workout craze, and the rise of MTV….A lively popular history of the 1980s centered on the rise and the eclipse of the Yuppies.” — Shelf Awareness
Amazon Editors’ Pick (June 2024)
Next Big Ideas Club Must Read Book (June 2024)
Politico Magazine Excerpt
Tom McGrath is an award-winning writer and editor whose books and articles have covered politics, business, sports, culture and more.
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