Morgenthau: Andrew Meier with Ginia Bellafante

The journalist and biographer discusses his portrait of four generations of the Morgenthau family, a dynasty of power brokers and public officials with an outsize—and previously unmapped—influence on the American Century.

The Morgenthau family has been called “the closest we’ve got to royalty in New York City.” With exclusive access to family archives, award-winning journalist and biographer Andrew Meier vividly chronicles how they amassed a fortune in Manhattan real estate, advised presidents, advanced the New Deal, exposed the Armenian genocide, rescued victims of the Holocaust, waged war in the Mediterranean and Pacific, and built a dynasty on a foundation of private wealth.  From FDR’s highly consequential treasury secretary, Henry Jr., to New York’s “DA for life,” Robert, Morgenthau unearths the never-before-told story of unprecedented power and wealth in one American family.

Andrew Meier was a 2005–2006 Fellow at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He discusses his new book with journalist Ginia Bellafante.

To join this event in-person | Please be sure to register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form shortly before the program.

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

Livestream | Captions and a transcript will be provided. Media used over the course of the conversation will be accompanied by alt text and/or audio description. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Andrew Meier is the author of Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall and The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin’s Secret Service. A former Moscow correspondent for Time magazine, he has contributed to The New York Times Magazine among numerous other publications. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.

Ginia Bellafante has served as the Big City columnist of The New York Times since 2011, a weekly column devoted to life, culture, politics and policy in New York City. She has also served as the Times fashion critic and television critic, and has written for the culture and styles pages, the magazine, and the book review. She previously served as a senior writer at Time magazine.

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The Cullman Center is made possible by a generous endowment from Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman in honor of Brooke Russell Astor, with major support provided by Mrs. John L. Weinberg, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Estate of Charles J. Liebman, The von der Heyden Family Foundation, John and Constance Birkelund, and The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, and with additional gifts from Helen and Roger Alcaly, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Arts and Letters Foundation Inc., William W. Karatz, Merilee and Roy Bostock, and Cullman Center Fellows.