The End of the Hamptons Scenes from the Class Struggle in America's Paradise [Hardcover]

Winner of the 2005 Book Prize from the Association for Humanist Sociology

In this absorbing account of New York’s famous vacation playground, Corey Dolgon goes beyond the celebrity tales and polo games to tell us the story of this complex and contentious land. From the displacement of Native Americans by the Puritans to the first wave of Manhattan elites who built the Summer Colony, to the current infusion of telecommuting Manhattanites who now want to live there year-round, the story of the Hamptons is a vicious cycle of supposed paradise lost.

Drawing on this fabled land's history,The End of the Hamptonsprovides a fascinating portrait of current controversies: the Native Americans fighting over land claims and threatening to build a casino, the environmental activists clashing with the McMansion builders, and the Latino day laborers and working-class natives trying to eke out a living in an ever-increasingly expensive town.

“Dolgon tells a history that is balanced and agenda-free.”:
-Foreword Magazine

“This superb book focuses on current controversies in the Hamptons. . . . Dolgon’s treatment of these issues is carefully researched, richly detailed, and original, and presented in a beautifully clear narrative.”:
-David Halle,Contemporary Sociology

“Delicious and intellectually nutritious as a Montauk seafood fiesta. Sharp and as jolting as the jitney journey from Manhattan, it is perfect beach reading, or enticing fodder for the downtime of long winters.”:
-Neil Smith,author ofAmerican Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization

“[A] very good book. It offers the reader an insightful political-economic analysis of eastern Long Island's microcosm of a class and ethnically divided society. . . . This is a fascinating book l#,