Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the media dynasty that reshaped the world

— —

Michael M. Grynbaum

Empire of the Elite

Inside Condé Nast, the media dynasty that reshaped the world

Michael M. Grynbaum

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Coronet Books
14 October 2025

Prose: non-fiction; Media, information & communication industries

'Glamour! Taste! Prestige! Monsters! I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world' MARINA HYDE

For decades, one company in New

York told the world what to buy, value, wear, eat, and even what to think.

From its glitzy heyday in the 1980s through to the 2000s, American

publishing empire Conde Nast and its magazines - including Vogue, Vanity

Fair, the New Yorker and GQ - defined how to live the good

life, with its editors and writers creating a vision of luxury and

sophistication that shaped cultural and consumer trends, intellectual

attitudes and political beliefs the world over.

They were the ultimate influencers - before the internet changed

everything. Conde Nast had amassed great power and influence, but failed to

foresee and keep up with the digital revolution that would reduce it to a

shadow of its former self.

Full of fresh insider reporting, venerated and feared names like

Anna Wintour, Tina Brown and Graydon Carter who became celebrities in their

own right, Empire of the Elite is a groundbreaking exploration of how

Conde Nast established itself as a global authority in taste and prestige. It

is also a cautionary tale, exposing how class, hubris and technological

change shook the dominance of the old media gatekeepers, even as Conde Nast's

aesthetic and status-conscious ethos remains undeniably influential to this

day.

By: Michael M. Grynbaum
Imprint: Coronet Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399707213
ISBN 10: 1399707213
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 14 October 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Michael M. Grynbaum is a correspondent for The New York Times, where he covers media, politics, and culture. Since joining the newspaper at age twenty-two, he has reported on three presidential campaigns and the transformation of the media world in the Trump era. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in history and literature, and lives in Manhattan. This is his first book.

Reviews for Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the media dynasty that reshaped the world

""Glamour! Taste! Prestige! Monsters! I loved this gorgeous romp through a lost world, and the emperors and empresses who made it. Mike Grynbaum is the perfect smart and wry chronicler of that long age of haute hubris, which has been replaced with something a lot less spirited and fun. This book should be served with cocktails and a cackle."" -- Marina Hyde