Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power

by Jennifer Wright

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From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige.

Marion Graves Anthon Fish, known by the nicknames “Mamie” and “The Fun-Maker,” threw the most epic parties in American history. This Gilded Age icon brought it lavish decor; A-list invitees; booze; pranks; and large animal guest stars. If you were a member of New York high society in the Peak Age of Innocence Era, you simply had to be on Mamie Fish’s guest list. Mamie Fish understood that people didn’t just need the formality of prior generations — they needed wit and whimsy. 

Make no mistake, Mamie Fish’s story is about so much more than partying. In Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time, readers will learn all about how Fish and her friends shaped the line of history, exerting their influence on business, politics, family relationships, and social change through elaborate social gatherings. In a time when women couldn’t even own property, let alone run for office, if women wanted any of the things men got outside the home—glory, money, attention, social networking, leadership roles—they had to do it by throwing a decadent soiree or chairing a cotillion. 

To ensure people would hear and remember what she had to say, Mamie Fish lived her whole life at Volume 10, becoming famous not by playing the part of a saintly helpmeet, but by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly. It's time to let modern readers in on the fun, the fabulousness, and the absolute ferocity that is Ms. Stuyvesant Fish—and her inimitable legacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Audiobook, Historical, American History, Biography Memoir

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was light and fun.
The author is deeply familiar with the players of this era as well as the social expectations of the upper class.

The novel acknowledges racism much more easily than it does classism. Mamie was light hearted and loved a good time but she lived in an era of great poverty overseen by her husband and friends husbands. She's responsible to do much more than fundraise for causes and the author must be aware that funds raised by socialites rarely go to the intended cause.

This is perfect for fans of the show The Gilded Age on HBO. I adore that the narrator is the actress who plays Mamie on the show. This was very fun.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Know what’s really a damn good time?

This book.

I love a rollicking trip back in time, and Wright delivers that in spades here. This is the perfect blend of humor and history, and it’s both deeply detailed and exceptionally readable.

Editorializing in a nonfiction book is sometimes a dangerous practice, and there is a LOT of that happening here. But in this case it works fantastically well, and I found myself laughing out loud and the author’s observations, humor, and quirky asides.

This is a good example of a book the blends research and readability well, and I wish we saw more historians take up this format and style. I have read a lot about this era and about the Fish specifically, and this still felt fresh and original, and I think a lot of that is down to the way the information was presented.

In all, a hugely fun and funny ride, and packed with the kind of sensory, immersive history that reads like fiction.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, light-reading biography of Mamie Fish, focusing on her impact on the society of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. The writing relies a little too heavily for my taste on little quips, and too-obvious comparisons to current-day phenomena like Instagram or reality TV. The said-bookisms, especially when it comes to newspaper quotes--sniffing, asserting, musing, etc. etc.--got to be obtrusive after a while.

Wright didn't necessarily make me sympathize with anyone involved here, but I appreciated getting an idea of some of the social changes and upheavals that happened during Mamie's life, that could have been rather dry going without her as a free-wheeling centerpiece: union organizing and riots, debates on women's suffrage, fashion shows with a charity drive attached, and the looming threat of World War I.

[Gretchen Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing this reader loves more than narrative non-fiction and especially well-researched writing. While the author combines obviously well-researched writing with entertaining prose, her editorial side comments are jolting and unnecessary. Why do we need statements like “This is approximately the age of the characters in the original show Sex and the City.”? I think a reader understands how old 36 is without that reference. The book is rife with distracting and snide editorial comments that do nothing for the narrative. Where was the editor? This reader was interested in learning about Mamie Fish and her shameless and extravagant self-promotion, but won’t read anything by this author again.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mamie Fish is an icon.

Is she a perfect person? Far from it. But she wanted to have a good time and didn’t want to be serious all the time. I think a healthy dose of silliness is needed every once in a while. And Mamie Fish provided that to her society members in The 400.

This period of American history is so fascinating because of how tone deaf the socialites at the time truly were. The Industrial Revolution made millionaires overnight. And used it to throw lavish parties - and shade.

The writing gets a bit sidetracked at times, pulling focus from Mamie to comment on others in the time, but overall it’s fun - Wright’s personal commentary peps up the writing to make it more conversational.

Overall it was a well-researched and interesting snapshot into the world of the Gilded Age and the woman who pushed people to not take themselves too seriously.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Wright, and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Daniel Kibblesmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t finished it yet, but this is a five star book and if you’ve enjoyed any of Jennifer Wright’s books, you also want this one. Enjoy.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the topic, but felt like this book took too many tangents away from Mamie and didn’t have a strong storyline.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, the T.V. show The Gilded Age is in no way doing Mamie Fish justice. I understand needing to give Bertha Russell and edge, but I feel like just sticking with Alva Vanderbilt and letting Mamie be Mamie would have been better.

That out of the way (and yes, that's partially what drew me to this book in the first place), this is a lot of fun and an excellent way to see where so many of society's foibles come from. I've said before that the Victorians have had an outsize influence on modern culture, and this definitely contributes to the idea. If you've ever wondered where our fascination with reality T.V. and worship of billionaires comes from, it's the Gilded Age and people like Mamie Fish. She was an interesting woman in her own right, but the ways that her reach extends into the modern day is the real meat of this book for social historians.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

For whatever reason, I've never been able to latch on to the Gilded Age show. Still, while reading this book I kept going ah, well this must certainly be X from the few episodes I've seen. As always, Wright is hilarious, and she remains poignant, though this is certainly more a romp of a book than Madame Restell. But I love that we get to see Mamie as she rises to power, but also as she ages out of her own hijinks and starts to ensconce herself as something of a fuddy duddy in her old age. Its realistic, and its a reminder.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book for fans of The Gilded Age! Lots of cheeky quips from the author. Light tone made it easy to pick back up but sort of hard to get too invested in anyone. Apparently the actress who plays Mamie Fish narrates the audiobook so I wish I had listened instead of read!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I am a big fan of the HBO series The Gilded Age and I wanted to know more about Mamie Fish. We lived in Newport for four years, so it was very interesting learning more about the history of the mansions and people and the parties.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power by Jennifer Wright

Overview
Jennifer Wright’s Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time is a vibrant, meticulously researched biography of Marion “Mamie” Fish, the Gilded Age’s most audacious socialite. Wright reframes Fish not merely as a party hostess but as a strategic power broker who wielded extravagance as a tool for influence in an era when women were barred from formal political and economic spheres. The book interrogates how elite social gatherings functioned as covert networks for shaping business, politics, and cultural norms, offering a fresh lens on gender, class, and agency in late 19th-century America.

Strengths

-Provocative Thesis: Wright compellingly argues that Fish’s over-the-top soirées were calculated acts of defiance and ambition, akin to modern branding campaigns. The comparison to Elon Musk’s marketing excesses underscores this point.
-Narrative Style: The author’s irreverent tone mirrors Fish’s own disdain for Gilded Age propriety, making the biography as entertaining as it is scholarly. Wright’s wit cuts through the stuffiness often associated with historical texts.
-Historical Context: The book excels in linking Fish’s antics—like doll-themed parties and elephant arrivals—to broader societal shifts, including industrialization and wealth disparity.

Critiques

-Visual Descriptions: Wright omits detailed physical descriptions of Fish or her legendary wardrobe, leaving readers to rely on external portrayals. A deeper dive into fashion as a status symbol would have enriched the analysis.
-Structural Rigor: While the playful prose is refreshing, some academic readers might crave tighter thematic organization to balance the narrative flair.

How I would describe this book:

- Jennifer Wright delivers a damn good biography—Mamie Fish’s parties weren’t just fun; they were feminist acts of rebellion.
- A rollicking dive into how one woman turned champagne and elephants into political currency.
- For fans of The Gilded Age and The Great Gatsby, this book reveals the real power behind the glitter.
- Wright proves history’s ‘funny women’ deserve serious attention—Fish’s legacy is as sharp as her wit.

Acknowledgments
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing an advance review copy. Wright’s work is a testament to their commitment to bold, genre-defying history.

Conclusion
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time is a triumph of pop-inflected scholarship, perfect for historians and casual readers alike. Wright resurrects Mamie Fish as a proto-influencer whose extravagance masked shrewd ambition—a timely reminder that “frivolity” is often anything but.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) — A sparkling blend of rigor and revelry, with minor gaps in visual storytelling.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mamie Fish is an east coast woman who lived a fanciful life during the Gilded Age. Many people have never heard of her but the impact she made on high society has reverberated to today. The first half of the book lays the historical groundwork for the story. When Mamie Fish is fully introduced the reader has better understanding how she fits into history and provides the context on how she became popular. To sum up the impact she made "She made weirdness and glamour compatible."

[Zehava (Joyce) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been finding non-fiction so boring these days and unfortunately this book is more of the same. I’m a sucker for a juicy gilded age story but this story wasn’t very juicy. It was basically a retread of every other history of the Astors and Vanderbilts I’ve ever read just with Mamie Fish as the central character, and Mamie Fish was just not that interesting. She’s more the main character of one chapter than the main character of an entire book. Good audiobook.

[Jennifer Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I picked this book up because I enjoy the character Mamie Fish on the Gilded Age. I listened to the audio version because it was read by Ashlie Atkinson, the actress who plays Fish on the Gilded Age. And her narration was the most enjoyable part.

It simply was not a good book.

There was no story or theme. There were some interesting tidbits and I am glad that I read it for those. But there were large sections with copious details of party after party and many of those parties were not even Mamie Fish’s nor was she at them. The author would tenuously tie together some detail of Mamie to connect why she was continuously veering off of Mamie‘s life.

I’m not sure what the thesis of the author was other than just stringing together details of parties that Mamie threw and her quest to always stay on top socially. Mamie was a very unlikable character and it’s hard to reconcile how the Gilded Age TV show has portrayed Mamie from the vapid, rude, self-centered woman in this book. It just did not provide complexity or nuance or any understanding to how she operated.

You’re to draw your own conclusions of her influence and why there was a book written about her other than she threw creative parties and as a result rewrote many social rules that allowed her to be rude and cutting.

I have read many historical fiction novels of different characters from that time and I have enjoyed all of those. This was just an unfortunate extra long Wikipedia entry with random commentary from the author. It took me quite a while to finish this book and I fell asleep countless times. I typically read a book in one to two days.

[Sidhant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacking Glitz and Glam

This book is in the unfortunate position of trying to do too many things at once. It simultaneously attempts to provide an adequate biography of Mrs. Fish, a history of the late 19th and early 20th century elite, and an understanding of the role of high status women in society. Unfortunately it misses the mark on all three. Wright fails to give Mamie Fish an ounce of interiority, so that we are left with a portrait of a woman nondescript enough for us to project our own biases upon her. This, ultimately, is the great failing of the book. We are left to ponder about the subject without even a proper or full accounting of her environment or time. Perhaps Wright--or her editor--could have focused less on over explaining the modern connections and meanings and spent the page space on giving more content. It is apt that a book about the Gilded Age has a thin exterior masking a vacuous interior beset with problems.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It is heartbreaking at these parties took place before the age of Instagram. Everything Mamie did seemed to positively sparkle, and she would have dominated social media.”

That’s essentially the thesis (derogatory)

[Debbie Appelbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fans of the HBO series The Gilded Age or just those fascinated by the history of the time, this book is a delightful romp made all the more fun by its writing style and narrator for the audio book. A cross between Lady Whistledown from the Bridgerton series and the actor who brought Mrs. Fish to life in the Gilded Age series, she was the epitome of fun as we learned about the ways a woman in that time period could gain power, set trends, and bring life to a group of individuals and how we are impacted by her still to this day. Although I am sure it would be fun to read; I highly recommend this as an audio book choice.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at one of the Big names of the Gilded Age, and a look at why people of that social class were like that. I could have done without all the pop culture references which will be hopelessly outdated in maybe a decade or less, I think some od them are already starting to feel particucularly dated.

also I didn't read this all in one to two days, I just forgot to add it it my Goodreads list until this month.

[Krissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might have easily been a four star book if it was written straightforwardly, but maybe the author didn't have enough interesting information and chose to pad out Mamie's story with asides, references to memes, and other contemporary pop culture?

I'm thinking this may also be the reason there aren't any photographs or drawings in this book, as it takes up way more copy to describe parties and gowns than to just show a picture, thereby lengthening the book. I would have liked both descriptions and pictures. I especially am curious about the "vegetable party" hosted by the Misses Hewitt, where attendees came dressed as vegetables.

"Pics or it didn't happen!"

I bet Jennifer Wright is kicking herself that she didn't write that this was something that Mamie Fish should've said.

[Bernadette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I like Gilded Age historical fiction better than pseudo-biograpy, but this book was a light, easy read about Mamie Fish. if you believe the author, Mamie Fish, not Lena Astor, was the tour de force of Gilded Age society both NYC and Newport), the 400, Ward McAllister and Harry Lehr, etc. I also learned that there were always so many flowers at the balls because they were used to mask the body odor of all the guests in the time before deodorant was invented. Who knew?

[Kennedy Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction and this was me trying it out. Even though it took me a while to get through, I really enjoyed this book. It felt like sitting down with someone who knew all of the hot gossip (in a good way) and it was very funny and entertaining. I love some of the witty quip’s the author came up with, and I think Mamie Fish would’ve loved them too.

[Molly Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that this was a nonfiction book that read like your best friend sending you a voice note. It was very funny and I thought it had some astute observations. It really made me wish the Gilded age showed this sense of humor that was clearly in the ether at this time. It makes me interested in reading more of this author’s works

[Janevonslain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer Wright does it again! I learned so much and I cried a single tear when I finished the audiobook because it was over and I wanted more!

[SUSAN *Nevertheless,she persisted* · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of HBO's "Gilded Age",you will enjoy this book. It will provide some backstory and insight into the historical characters in the show.

[Book Buying With Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75. It was entertaining and well-wriiten, but I'm just not sure this is the year that this book needed to be published. Love Jennifer Wright, but you can skip this one.

[Maddy Newquist]

please picture me reading this on an Oregon coast beach at sunset wearing the most bedazzled sunglasses of all time that say "I Do Crew" on them (because that is what happened)

[Layne Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow… this book clearly described how disconnected so many were to the actual world during the Gilded Age.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My geegaws? Bedecked!!!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not normally my brand of history, but this tale was told glibly with fun. Reminded me of Sarah Vowell’s snark and commentary.