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Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America
From a New York Times media correspondent, a dishy history of the Condé Nast magazine empire, home of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more, focusing on its glitzy heyday from the 1980s through the 2000s.
For decades, Condé Nast and its glittering magazines defined how to live the good life in America. The brilliant, complicated, striving characters behind Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, and many other titles manufactured a vision of luxury and sophistication that shaped consumer habits, cultural trends, intellectual attitudes, and political beliefs the world over. Condé’s billionaire owner Si Newhouse and his stable of star editors, photographers, and writers were the gatekeepers who decided what and who mattered, and they offered those opinions to tens of millions of readers every month. They were the ultimate influencers—before social media changed everything. The magazines crowned celebrities by the dozens, patronized creative talent much as the Medicis had underwritten Renaissance artists, and supercharged opulent events like the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and the Met Gala, which came to rival any fete that Louis XIV ever hosted at Versailles. The book is full of fresh behind-the-scenes reporting about a plethora of boldface names and sets out to explain how Condé Nast established itself as a de facto American aristocracy, anointing an elite and dictating the culture they presided over.
The colorful story of Condé Nast at its zenith and the profound way it influenced how Americans aspired to look, eat, decorate, date, marry, and even think, has never been examined deeply. Empire of the Elite is the first book-length history of an empire whose publications refashioned American notions of prestige, whose editors became celebrities themselves, and whose diminution offers a cautionary tale of class, hubris, and technological change, even as its aesthetic and ethos remain influential to this day.
For decades, Condé Nast and its glittering magazines defined how to live the good life in America. The brilliant, complicated, striving characters behind Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, and many other titles manufactured a vision of luxury and sophistication that shaped consumer habits, cultural trends, intellectual attitudes, and political beliefs the world over. Condé’s billionaire owner Si Newhouse and his stable of star editors, photographers, and writers were the gatekeepers who decided what and who mattered, and they offered those opinions to tens of millions of readers every month. They were the ultimate influencers—before social media changed everything. The magazines crowned celebrities by the dozens, patronized creative talent much as the Medicis had underwritten Renaissance artists, and supercharged opulent events like the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and the Met Gala, which came to rival any fete that Louis XIV ever hosted at Versailles. The book is full of fresh behind-the-scenes reporting about a plethora of boldface names and sets out to explain how Condé Nast established itself as a de facto American aristocracy, anointing an elite and dictating the culture they presided over.
The colorful story of Condé Nast at its zenith and the profound way it influenced how Americans aspired to look, eat, decorate, date, marry, and even think, has never been examined deeply. Empire of the Elite is the first book-length history of an empire whose publications refashioned American notions of prestige, whose editors became celebrities themselves, and whose diminution offers a cautionary tale of class, hubris, and technological change, even as its aesthetic and ethos remain influential to this day.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published July 15, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
June 21, 2025
If you’ve ever been interested in the ways magazine publishing shaped the twentieth century - or picked up a copy of the New Yorker, Vogue, or Vanity Fair and wanted to know more about the world behind those witty, stylish pages - this book is an absolute must-read. Grynbaum expertly relates the story of Condé Nast through the decades, filling his narrative with unforgettable characters framed in consistently insightful and entertaining terms. Empire of the Elite is a joy to read.
August 3, 2025
Every girl yearns to live in the golden era of Condé Nast and have a job that only exists in 90s rom coms. This extensive history reaffirms this. Very interesting to trace how popular media we know today was shaped directly by so many of the stories in this book.
September 29, 2025
*** 9/29/25 *** Just finished this intensively researched history of Conde Nast, written with such densely packed information covering the family over 15+ decades, from the birth of Conde Montrose Nast in 1873 to the modern 2020's++ era.
Michael Grynbaum's writing style is as one might expect for an author who has spent the entirety of his career at The New York Times after graduating from Harvard - every single sentence conveys powerful information, and the vocabulary is spectacular. I gave up trying to highlight interesting facts 20% in. Despite this being only 368-pages (hardback), it reads like a much longer book, even though the actual written content ends at the 50% mark! Readers then get photos from 51%-58%, and then citations by chapter until the index begins at 74%.
This isn't to say that the book is anything but educational, compelling, shocking, and eye-opening - it is all of those things and more. It is kind of like when you are traveling and have an amazing tour guide who educates you about particular site's history, anecdotes, and interesting facts - you are mesmerized, but have no hope of recalling 90% of it later, it is just too much information.
What stands out to me is how Conde Nast played a pretty major role in the pre-history of out current president, by writing an article that they themselves pushed into a deal to publish his infamous book that put him in front of the American people for the first time. Another major emphasis is the absolutely stunning level of consumption of $$$ in the name of publishing their magazines. The newspapers in their dynasty paid for all the spending by the magazine staff: the cars, homes, designer clothes, elite hotel suites, travel, and as many other ways you can think of to spend copious amounts of money, all in the name of defining elite culture. The last thing that jumped out at me is how terribly wrong Si Newhouse and his leaders were in paying attention to the internet. Thankfully, the family had various businesses, made some good investments along the way, were always rich (private company), and have so much money they will never be poor lol.
Very interesting history and a must read for anyone who lived through the magazine eras of the 70's, 80's and 90's. 5-stars.
*** 9/16/25 *** Picked by my book club - looking forward to reading about those 80's/90's power brokers who influenced - defined, really - culture in that glorious pre-internet era where actual written blurbs, articles, and images were created, disseminated, and consumed by the public, instead of digital content on smartphones.
Michael Grynbaum's writing style is as one might expect for an author who has spent the entirety of his career at The New York Times after graduating from Harvard - every single sentence conveys powerful information, and the vocabulary is spectacular. I gave up trying to highlight interesting facts 20% in. Despite this being only 368-pages (hardback), it reads like a much longer book, even though the actual written content ends at the 50% mark! Readers then get photos from 51%-58%, and then citations by chapter until the index begins at 74%.
This isn't to say that the book is anything but educational, compelling, shocking, and eye-opening - it is all of those things and more. It is kind of like when you are traveling and have an amazing tour guide who educates you about particular site's history, anecdotes, and interesting facts - you are mesmerized, but have no hope of recalling 90% of it later, it is just too much information.
What stands out to me is how Conde Nast played a pretty major role in the pre-history of out current president, by writing an article that they themselves pushed into a deal to publish his infamous book that put him in front of the American people for the first time. Another major emphasis is the absolutely stunning level of consumption of $$$ in the name of publishing their magazines. The newspapers in their dynasty paid for all the spending by the magazine staff: the cars, homes, designer clothes, elite hotel suites, travel, and as many other ways you can think of to spend copious amounts of money, all in the name of defining elite culture. The last thing that jumped out at me is how terribly wrong Si Newhouse and his leaders were in paying attention to the internet. Thankfully, the family had various businesses, made some good investments along the way, were always rich (private company), and have so much money they will never be poor lol.
Very interesting history and a must read for anyone who lived through the magazine eras of the 70's, 80's and 90's. 5-stars.
*** 9/16/25 *** Picked by my book club - looking forward to reading about those 80's/90's power brokers who influenced - defined, really - culture in that glorious pre-internet era where actual written blurbs, articles, and images were created, disseminated, and consumed by the public, instead of digital content on smartphones.
July 20, 2025
Michael Grynbaum is an American journalist. His 2025 book Empire of the Elite focuses on the history and cultural impact of the Condé Nast publishing house, the company behind media brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Bon Appétit, Glamour, GQ, Architectural Digest, etc., etc.
I think this book will be of interest to those who are familiar with these brands and the people involved. I'm not particularly familiar, so the large cast of characters and the recounting of blow-by-blow events from decades ago was overwhelming and of limited interest for me, leading me to DNF this book around 60% of the way through.
My statistics:
Book 221 for 2025
Book 2147 cumulatively
I think this book will be of interest to those who are familiar with these brands and the people involved. I'm not particularly familiar, so the large cast of characters and the recounting of blow-by-blow events from decades ago was overwhelming and of limited interest for me, leading me to DNF this book around 60% of the way through.
My statistics:
Book 221 for 2025
Book 2147 cumulatively
November 15, 2025
Terrible narrator on the audiobook.
December 30, 2025
How someone made something so glittering and juicy and dull and dry, I’ll never know. Perhaps this was hurt by my recent reading of Grayson Carter’s When the Going was Good (five stars!) or the audiobook narrators monotone delivery (I actually checked to see if this was AI narration), but skip this one.
July 16, 2025
The O.G. of Influencers.
That's what Conde Nast has proven to be. Print media has gone to the wayside. The Conde Nast unlimited coffers for its editors and writers will never be replicated and yes, a number of iconic magazines (Self, Gourmet) may have folded . Yet, Conde Nast's influence is still felt in today's digital age.
At it's zenith, the Conde Nast influence sprawled over a diverse swath of sectors: from the culinary, literary, fashion, to architecture. Learned quite a bit about familiar names like Tina Brown, David Remnick and Anna Wintour and introduced to the (diminutive in size but not in influence) Si Newhouse. For instance, how Anna Wintour revitalized the then stodgy Costume Institute Benefit (currently known as the Met Gala), the inception of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue (and why it was so significant), and Tina Brown's trailblazing editorial actions taken with Vanity Fair.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster ,in exchange for an honest review.
That's what Conde Nast has proven to be. Print media has gone to the wayside. The Conde Nast unlimited coffers for its editors and writers will never be replicated and yes, a number of iconic magazines (Self, Gourmet) may have folded . Yet, Conde Nast's influence is still felt in today's digital age.
At it's zenith, the Conde Nast influence sprawled over a diverse swath of sectors: from the culinary, literary, fashion, to architecture. Learned quite a bit about familiar names like Tina Brown, David Remnick and Anna Wintour and introduced to the (diminutive in size but not in influence) Si Newhouse. For instance, how Anna Wintour revitalized the then stodgy Costume Institute Benefit (currently known as the Met Gala), the inception of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue (and why it was so significant), and Tina Brown's trailblazing editorial actions taken with Vanity Fair.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster ,in exchange for an honest review.
October 14, 2025
excellent reporting on a fascinating publishing company. that shaped a lot of current american culture. rewatched devil wears prada for the vibes
January 10, 2026
as someone who used to subscribe to 5 condé nast magazines, this book was incredible
December 21, 2025
Incredibly well researched, Grynbaum’s writing is incisive while retaining an ease of prose that’s delightful to read. I agree with Tina Brown’s position that the role of the cultural arbiter is integral, yet in jeopardy.
December 16, 2025
A wonderful book if you like the history of magazines…and the culture of the 20th century.
August 1, 2025
i love this shit. some thoughts:
1. i appreciate how this book goes beyond the classic "legacy media was soooo out of touch" criticism and dives into the deeper context around publishing and elitism; like yes - legacy media WAS (and some outlets still are) out of touch, but this does not merit a whole book (hello taylor lorenz) as it is not a new or exciting observation. ANYWAYS. i appreciated how EotE explored the reasons for condé’s outoftouchness — including the psychological and classist ones
2. i think the characterization of condé as a sort of aspirational American myth is spot on. the decadence, the francophilia, the "i’m going from rags to riches and slamming the door behind me" philosophy is so central to america
3. i DO think this book comes really close to perfect… BUT it falls short when it begins to explore how yesterday’s magazines and curators were replaced by today’s algorithms.
the book pins much of this on slow-to-adapt editors, millennials’ a distaste for the display of wealth, and gen z’s lack of community - which are all valid - but i think PERSONALLY it has more to do with cost. algorithms are the new magazines because they are free, personalized, and endless. nobody pays for curated news or media because nobody has to— which is sad, and i don’t know what the solution is — but i think that to ignore social media’s usurpation of traditional media (from books to movies to magazines) is a mistake. but all that said.. i DO think social media is gonna die as a concept within like ten years. and i haven’t written a book, so what do i know?
side note: love how anna wintour stepped down just before this came out, when there is a whole chapter on how she Will Never Leave, essentially casting doubt on the whole work… what a diva move on her part
1. i appreciate how this book goes beyond the classic "legacy media was soooo out of touch" criticism and dives into the deeper context around publishing and elitism; like yes - legacy media WAS (and some outlets still are) out of touch, but this does not merit a whole book (hello taylor lorenz) as it is not a new or exciting observation. ANYWAYS. i appreciated how EotE explored the reasons for condé’s outoftouchness — including the psychological and classist ones
2. i think the characterization of condé as a sort of aspirational American myth is spot on. the decadence, the francophilia, the "i’m going from rags to riches and slamming the door behind me" philosophy is so central to america
3. i DO think this book comes really close to perfect… BUT it falls short when it begins to explore how yesterday’s magazines and curators were replaced by today’s algorithms.
the book pins much of this on slow-to-adapt editors, millennials’ a distaste for the display of wealth, and gen z’s lack of community - which are all valid - but i think PERSONALLY it has more to do with cost. algorithms are the new magazines because they are free, personalized, and endless. nobody pays for curated news or media because nobody has to— which is sad, and i don’t know what the solution is — but i think that to ignore social media’s usurpation of traditional media (from books to movies to magazines) is a mistake. but all that said.. i DO think social media is gonna die as a concept within like ten years. and i haven’t written a book, so what do i know?
side note: love how anna wintour stepped down just before this came out, when there is a whole chapter on how she Will Never Leave, essentially casting doubt on the whole work… what a diva move on her part
July 25, 2025
The story is told well, but it provides a look at people of privilege who make their livelihoods peddling illusions of glamor and wealth to folks who don't have the means to achieve such an existence. I pretty much checked out when the story got to the point where staffers were belly-aching about budget cuts that forced them to drink tap water.
September 19, 2025
3.5 If you like your history books the way you like your Mexican jumping beans—that is, jumping around all over the place—this one’s for you. The Empire of the Elite, a history of Condé Nast, is nothing if not exhaustive. In print, the dense detail can feel rich and rewarding, but in audio, it becomes overwhelming—and the narrator’s flat delivery made it more boring than it actually is. I usually breeze through books like this, but it took me almost a full week to get through, jumping myself from print to audio and back again.
That said, I did enjoy revisiting eras I lived through and found it fun to Google some old iconic covers of Vogue, Spy, and Vanity Fair i remembered along the way.
As a perennial student of media studies, I found it fascinating to compare the influence magazines once held with the way we now use Instagram—not for glossy aspirational fantasies, but for envy-inducing glimpses into the supposedly perfect lives of people we actually know. No wonder we’re all miserable. At least when it was Madonna living the high life you could shrug and say, “Well yeah, it’s freaking Madonna.” Now it’s your cousin from New Jersey. We’re all gatekeepers now; in fact the author christened it “the post-gatekeeper era,” where aspirations have become expectations, with all the pressures that come with that. But ya know, do I really want to be like Anna Wintour or Snooky from Jersey? I like to think that I still hold the keys and am aware of the difference. At least I hope so.
So this book is a lot—meticulous, ambitious, and occasionally overstuffed. Worth reading if you want the full sweep of Condé Nast’s empire, but best tackled with patience. And useful for media studies scholars.
That said, I did enjoy revisiting eras I lived through and found it fun to Google some old iconic covers of Vogue, Spy, and Vanity Fair i remembered along the way.
As a perennial student of media studies, I found it fascinating to compare the influence magazines once held with the way we now use Instagram—not for glossy aspirational fantasies, but for envy-inducing glimpses into the supposedly perfect lives of people we actually know. No wonder we’re all miserable. At least when it was Madonna living the high life you could shrug and say, “Well yeah, it’s freaking Madonna.” Now it’s your cousin from New Jersey. We’re all gatekeepers now; in fact the author christened it “the post-gatekeeper era,” where aspirations have become expectations, with all the pressures that come with that. But ya know, do I really want to be like Anna Wintour or Snooky from Jersey? I like to think that I still hold the keys and am aware of the difference. At least I hope so.
So this book is a lot—meticulous, ambitious, and occasionally overstuffed. Worth reading if you want the full sweep of Condé Nast’s empire, but best tackled with patience. And useful for media studies scholars.
January 17, 2026
I’ve been getting more into pop culture nonfiction lately and this one is a standout! Grynbaum is an excellent, straightforward writer and the subject matter is beyond interesting.
To use some buzzwords: “dishy”! “juicy”!
Seriously, there is so much good content in this. Condé Nast was full of characters, and the anecdotes about the interoffice culture particularly thrilled me. The excess! The waste! A 40k (iirc) clothing budget for editors? A New Yorker employee on full salary that hadn’t published a word in decades? The writer using the car service to bring him his Chinese food? Amazing.
I think it’s also depressing in some ways how much Condé is a product of its time. I personally think of The New Yorker as their only current asset that I can point to as thriving, fresh, and in possession of a bright future. Their just total, MASSIVE failure to anticipate and adapt to the internet is pathetic and saddening.
All in all, I loved his descriptions of Condé publications (thx to Tina) embracing the mix of high and low and encouraging journalists to write intellectually about “tabloid” subjects like true crime and movies. This book in and of itself is a perfect blend of the hi/lo and I’m soooo glad I picked it up on a whim.
To use some buzzwords: “dishy”! “juicy”!
Seriously, there is so much good content in this. Condé Nast was full of characters, and the anecdotes about the interoffice culture particularly thrilled me. The excess! The waste! A 40k (iirc) clothing budget for editors? A New Yorker employee on full salary that hadn’t published a word in decades? The writer using the car service to bring him his Chinese food? Amazing.
I think it’s also depressing in some ways how much Condé is a product of its time. I personally think of The New Yorker as their only current asset that I can point to as thriving, fresh, and in possession of a bright future. Their just total, MASSIVE failure to anticipate and adapt to the internet is pathetic and saddening.
All in all, I loved his descriptions of Condé publications (thx to Tina) embracing the mix of high and low and encouraging journalists to write intellectually about “tabloid” subjects like true crime and movies. This book in and of itself is a perfect blend of the hi/lo and I’m soooo glad I picked it up on a whim.
November 21, 2025
If I’m being honest the only Condé Nast magazines that I currently read or have read in the past are:
- Condé Nast Traveler
- Glamour
- Teen Vogue (RIP their political department)
With that, my main complaint here is the lack of conversation around Tern Vogue when Teen Vogue did bring an entire new generation into the arms of Condé Nast. Maybe my mind is just stuck on it since Teen Vogue is officially moving under Vogue.com
This was published in July 2025 and it’s amazing how much has happened in the Condé Nast world since. Besides the Teen Vogue move, Anna Wintour’s replacement was announced and as of this week, Jeff Bezos and his wife have their hands in the Met Gala (big yikes)
Overall, if you’re looking for a broad history of Condé Nast with some dishy information, this is it. Come back here when you find out how much people were making at Condé Nast in the 90s and early 2000s 🫢
See my review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRVSVF6kS...
- Condé Nast Traveler
- Glamour
- Teen Vogue (RIP their political department)
With that, my main complaint here is the lack of conversation around Tern Vogue when Teen Vogue did bring an entire new generation into the arms of Condé Nast. Maybe my mind is just stuck on it since Teen Vogue is officially moving under Vogue.com
This was published in July 2025 and it’s amazing how much has happened in the Condé Nast world since. Besides the Teen Vogue move, Anna Wintour’s replacement was announced and as of this week, Jeff Bezos and his wife have their hands in the Met Gala (big yikes)
Overall, if you’re looking for a broad history of Condé Nast with some dishy information, this is it. Come back here when you find out how much people were making at Condé Nast in the 90s and early 2000s 🫢
See my review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRVSVF6kS...
August 23, 2025
Qual è la vera storia dietro l’impero di Condé Nast, la casa editrice che ci ha regalato la mitologia di Vogue, o anche gli Oscar Party di Vanity Fair? Il giornalista del New York Times Michael Grynbaum lo spiega in questo libro che è un vademecum su come siamo arrivati ai giornali così come li conosciamo oggi, insieme ad un aneddotica da far cadere la mascella: c’è il direttore che per accettare meglio il licenziamento, riceverà 350 k all’anno, a vita, quella che invece direttrice non viene mai fatta perché non mangia correttamente gli asparagi; le folli diarie per i viaggi, i mutui agevolati per case in campagna e montagna, le spese allocate al guardaroba, la storia degli articoli che hanno cambiato la percezione americana su argomenti come la depressione e l’Aids. A confronto il diavolo veste Prada vi sembrerà una favola per bambini.
August 27, 2025
conde was described here as “the closest the late 20th century had come to reassembling the great old hollywood culture factories of the 1930s” which i thought was fascinating. i also enjoyed the peek into anna wintour’s early career and all the missteps / stumbling around before finding her stride - fired from harpers after a year at 26 and doing fashion at new york mag at 31 (which is, like, trying to be a seed investor at TCV). i had no idea! conde’s inability to understand / harness the digital age is one of the greatest fumbles of all time imo… what happened??
January 11, 2026
Genuinely fascinating seeing the excess that was attached to Conde Nast & Si Newhouse's insatiable need for societal standing and approval which led the company to great heights but also to its demise as he deemed the internet not a worthy place for his company to be and thus conde Nast lost out as the internet boom exploded. I do think there is a gentle pivot happening right now towards print media but will it be a big enough 360? Unlikely.
September 14, 2025
A must-read for anyone interested in the world of journalism or magazines, as well as those in PR and marketing, and business owners struggling with "scaling."
Grynbaum is a great writer, focusing on Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and Vogue...though many other titles and editors are touched on.
Grynbaum is a great writer, focusing on Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and Vogue...though many other titles and editors are touched on.
December 5, 2025
enjoyed learning about the inner workings & rich history of a (former?) purveyor of culture; would only recommend to people (like me) who grew up with a mother always nose deep in the latest issue of vanity fair
August 2, 2025
Absolutely loved it. So mindblowing if you know what it’s like to deal with Condé Nast these days. A wonderful example that nothing lasts forever
October 17, 2025
Started slow, fascinating look into a publishing giant and the role of magazines, narrator on audio was dreadful. Almost made me stop!
August 9, 2025
Kind of jumps around but very interesting
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September 18, 2025Smart, dishy, perfect
January 17, 2026
bringing back my reviews in 2026!!! this one was for those of us who begged for a teen vogue subscription in 2007 and never looked back ✨💖
December 8, 2025
dishy, vivacious, sympathetic. grynbaum’s voice is a finely tuned instrument, rich and evocative. I loved this book.
October 19, 2025
Natural follow or precursor to Grayson Carter's "When the Going Was Good," and excellently researched and exceedingly detailed look at how Si Newhouse shaped the culture through the various magazines we read: Mademoiselle, Vogue, Self, Vanity Fair and ultimately saved (probably) and revived The New Yorker. Some of the history early on can be tiring, but basically it's pulling the curtain back and looking at how things were done and the scandalous amount of waste! No wonder there was no money for the newspaper side of things.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews