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Michael Gross

Goodreads Author

Born

in New York City, The United States

July 16

Website

http://www.mgross.com

Twitter

MGrossGripepad

Genre

Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Travel

Influences

Milton Gross, Gay Talese, Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Dominick Dunne ...more

Member Since

May 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/nomdevdt

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This book list is a work in progress. Michael Gross is recognized as one of America’s most provocative writers of non-fiction–its “foremost chronicler of the upper-crust,” says curbed.com. His latest book Unreal Estate, to be published November 1, 2011, is a west coast version of his bestseller, 740 Park, this time exposing the most exclusive neighborhoods of Los Angeles–Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Beverly Park–and their residents. 740 Park, published in 2005, is the inside story of New York’s richest, most prestigious cooperative apartment building. Built by James T. Lee, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ grandfather, and long the residence of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 740 Park is today the home of some of New York’s wealthiest and This book list is a work in progress. Michael Gross is recognized as one of America’s most provocative writers of non-fiction–its “foremost chronicler of the upper-crust,” says curbed.com. His latest book Unreal Estate, to be published November 1, 2011, is a west coast version of his bestseller, 740 Park, this time exposing the most exclusive neighborhoods of Los Angeles–Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Beverly Park–and their residents. 740 Park, published in 2005, is the inside story of New York’s richest, most prestigious cooperative apartment building. Built by James T. Lee, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ grandfather, and long the residence of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 740 Park is today the home of some of New York’s wealthiest and most prominent families. Fortune has described 740 Park as “jaw-dropping apartment porn.” It offers an unprecedented peek into the world of such latterday financial heroes and villains as Stephen Schwarzman, Ezra Merkin and John Thain.

In between these real estate epics, Gross published the wildly controversial expose of New York’s cultural elite Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum in 2009, setting off an extraordinary campaign by some of New York’s most influential citizens to suppress the book. It failed. The New York Times Book Review called it “a blockbuster exhibition of human achievement and flaws” and Vanity Fair said it is simply “explosive.” Why? “Gross demonstrates he knows his stuff. It’s a terrific tale…gossipy, color-rich, fact-packed …What Gross reveals is stuff that more people should know,” according to USA Today. A paperback edition was released in May 2010.

Before 740 Park, Gross wrote Genuine Authentic, a biography of fashion designer Ralph Lauren. It was acclaimed by The New York Times as a work of “impressive reporting” that “hack(s) through the hype and half-truths” of the Polo purveyor’s legend. Publishers Weekly praised his “meticulous research and artful prose…The crackerjack journalist simultaneously tells a compelling story and gives it meat enough to be satisfying.”

A Contributing Editor of Travel & Leisure, Gross has also worked as a columnist for The New York Times, GQ, Tatler, Town & Country, and The Daily News; a Contributing Editor of New York (where he wrote 26 cover stories, including the magazine’s all-time best-selling reported cover story on John F. Kennedy, Jr.), and of Talk; a Senior Writer at Esquire, and a Senior Editor at George.

In 2000, Gross published My Generation, a generational biography of the Baby Boom. It was called “wonderful” by the Washington Times, “trenchant, well-dramatized, thought-provoking and unusual” by Kirkus Reviews and “hugely entertaining…a brilliantly reported story,” by the Orlando Sentinel.

Gross’s 1995 book, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, was an investigative tour-de-force, and a blistering expose of the fashion-modeling business. It was a New York Times bestseller, and a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club. Model, which remains in print and in demand more than a dozen years after its first publication, was also published in France, the U. K., Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and China. Most recently, an updated edition was published in Russia. Click here to read reviews of Model.

Over the years Gross has profiled such subjects as John F. Kennedy Jr., Greta Garbo, Stephanie of Monaco, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, Madonna, and Ivana Trump; fashion figures Tina Chow, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Ralph Lauren, and Steven Meisel, and he’s written on topics as diverse as philanthropy, the theft of the internet domain sex.com, plastic surgery, divorce, the A-List, Sex in the 90s and Greenwich Village-the last in an article that introduced the phrase “quality of life” into New York City’s 1993 mayoral campaig ...more

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Michael Gross’s books

Average rating: 3.42 · 2,925 ratings · 328 reviews · 11 distinct works • Similar authors

	740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building 3.37 avg rating — 1,122 ratings — published 2005 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rogues' Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum 3.51 avg rating — 582 ratings — published 2009 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women 3.52 avg rating — 575 ratings — published 1995 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World's Most Powerful Address 3.25 avg rating — 466 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren – A Revealing Biography of the Fashion Designer's Meteoric Success and the Secrets Behind the Empire 3.48 avg rating — 164 ratings — published 2003 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition, and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles 3.48 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Generation: Fifty Years of Sex, Drugs, Rock, Revolution, Glamour, Greed, Valor, Faith, and Silicon Chips 3.63 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2000 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	More Things Change 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Robert Plant: Led Zeppelin's Golden Boy, Rock's Heavy Metal Kid 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Michael Gross's Blog

Goodbye, Gripepad. Meet The Haves

I’ve launched The Haves, a new column on Substack, this week and invite you to opt in for a free subscription by clicking here. The Haves will take you behind the scenes of my career afflicting the comfortable since 1976. I’ll reveal how the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged behave, misbehave and shape our world. Money talks. So do I, and I’ll be telling new stories, backstories and war sto

Michael is Currently Reading

Michael Gross is currently reading

Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America’s Original Ruling Class

by Michael Gross

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Michael Gross wrote a new blog post Goodbye, Gripepad. Meet The Haves I’ve launched The Haves, a new column on Substack, this week and invite you to opt in for a free subscription by clicking here. The Haves will take yo Read more of this blog post »
Aug 24, 2026 12:37AM · like
Michael Gross liked Chip Fisher's review of Treasured Island: The Story of St. Barth . . . and Its Barbarians, Billionaires, and Beauties: "This is an amazing story of a small island from its humble beginnings to its current place as a playground for the very rich. Michael Gross weaves a wonderful tale of rogues and other odd characters to create a wonderful narrative. "
Mar 12, 2026 03:38PM · see review

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Quotes by Michael Gross (?)

“George had ridden crew at Yale”
― Michael Gross, 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building

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“The clothing industry of the last fifty years was about Jewish guys fucking Christian girls.”
― Michael Gross, Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren – A Revealing Biography of the Fashion Designer's Meteoric Success and the Secrets Behind the Empire

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