The Vanderbilts. The Rockefellers. The Carnegies. The Pinchots? 

In America’s Gilded Age, successful families forged self-made and powerful aristocracies, but history slighted a wealthy, influential family dynasty: the Pinchots. Outstandingly different from these and other business titans, this family is long overdue for recognition. 

In a broad historical sweep, this book focuses on three generations of Pinchots. The Pinchot family members propounded a set of values in serving the public good that went beyond economic success, and they championed many political and social reforms. 

The star is Gifford Pinchot, America’s first professionally trained forester, a central figure of the early environmental movement, Theodore Roosevelt’s closest confidant, and twice-elected governor of Pennsylvania. Also brought to life in these pages are Gifford’s father James Pinchot with his Franco-American cultural initiatives; his supportive mother Mary; his brother Amos, a gifted writer and activist for civil liberties and peace; and his sister Nettie, a noted humanitarian during the Great War. The last part of the book gives special attention to the turbulent lives of Amos’s three beautiful daughters, Rosamond, Mary, and Tony. 

Also woven into the storyline are the relationships between several Pinchots and the Roosevelts and later the Kennedys. The Pinchots is an essential read for anyone interested in citizen activism and the nation’s extraordinary transformation, culturally and politically, from the Civil War era to modern America. 

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

THE PINCHOTS presents many characters in all their entanglements with clarity and surrounds everyone with uncommon command of many subjects at once. Surely, it will be the basic rendering of this family forever.—James M. Banner, Jr., author of The Ever-Changing Past: Why All History Is Revisionist History

With THE PINCHOTS, David Patterson has given us an absorbing and authoritative account of a remarkable American family. It's a fascinating story well told, with nuance, power, and grace.—Fredrik Logevall, Harvard University

An enthralling saga of a family that like the Roosevelts played a formidable role in American history.—Maurine Beasley, author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady

THE PINCHOTS, heirs to a Gilded Age fortune, are the subject of Patterson's remarkable book. The family's triumphs and tragedies, its vivid, often quirky personalities, from environmentalist Gifford Pinchot to John F. Kennedy's murdered lover Mary Pinchot Meyer, illuminate a century of American history. Gracefully written, The Pinchots: A Family Saga draws on the extensive Pinchot family archives housed at the Library of Congress.—Dennis Gilbert, author of The American Class Structure

Patterson brings to life the importance of the Pinchot women in his stories, and his sensitive depiction of Rosamond's travails as an actress and her tragic death is a real achievement.—Nancy Greenspan, author of Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs 

The Pinchots have long deserved a history book all their own. While Gifford is the best known, his parents, siblings, and nieces have played a vital role in American history from the expansion west in the nineteenth century, to the modern political history of the twentieth century. David Patterson has done a remarkable job bringing all the research together in a fluid and lively narrative.—Michael Patrick Cullinane, Professor of History and Walton Chair of TR Studies

by David S. Patterson
Page Count: 500 
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Publish Date: November 30, 2022
Imprint: Sunbury Press
Genre: History / Biography

HISTORY / Modern / 20^th Century / General
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political
HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (PA)