Diamond Jim Brady

Diamond Jim Brady PRINCE OF THE GILDED AGE James Buchanan Diamond Jim Brady was one of the most colorful figures of the Gilded Age, the most glamorous era in U.S. history. In this lively biography, acclaimed journalist, broadcaster, and historian H. Paul Jeffers brings the high lord of the New York glitterati, his classic rags-to-riches story, and the lavish era he exemplified, to shimmering life for a new generation of readers. Tracing Brady's trajectory from New York's worst slums to the watering holes of high society, this spirited book reveals his speedy rise from bellhop to supersalesman to nationally reputed financier during a period dominated by industrial titans and robber barons. As renowned for his limitless appetites as he was for his monetary talents, Brady was celebrated for his ability to consume colossal quantities of food and drink at a single sitting, for his much-storied relationship with world-famous beauty, singer, and actress Lillian Russell, and, of course, for the abundance of gaudy jewelry with which he adorned his massive girth--and from which his nickname derived. Absorbing and intriguing, Diamond Jim Brady vividly recreates this exciting and sumptuous era, the larger-than-life man at its helm, as well as its richly memorable characters, happenings--and scandals.