Treasured Island by Michael Gross

Join us for a conversation with Michael Gross to celebrate his new book, an entertaining chronicle of the social history behind the island St. Barthelemy. He will be in conversation with Nina Burleigh, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Can't attend?(please specify that you would like it signed in the comments box at checkout).

A hugely entertaining social history of the elite and exclusive Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy from the New York Times bestselling author of Model and 740 Park.

St. Barthelemy is revered for its luxury, its stunning beaches and its VIP fans. Those who’ve either been there or hope to go, know St. Bart’s—or St. Barth, depending on your level of Francophilia—as the place for the beautiful people, the ultimate see-and-be-seen scene.

Over three decades, acclaimed social chronicler Michael Gross has taken dozens of extended trips to this gorgeous, sultry paradise and knows it almost as a local. In his captivating and detailed history, this “premier chronicler of the rich” (Gay Talese) reveals how the island grew from a barren volcanic island with sometimes in-bred, impoverished residents and no creature comforts to an elite port of call where entertainment, tech, and fashion celebrities, old money, nouveau riche, and international oligarchs vie for tables in chic, expensive restaurants; where pristine beaches, superyachts, and spectacular hotels and lavish private villas are playgrounds for the American, European, and Asian upper class. And some locals have gotten rich off them all.

This is an enticing and entertaining work that combines impeccable reporting and delicious commentary. It is essential reading for everybody who is anybody—or wants to be.

Michael Gross is the New York Times bestselling author of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women; 740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building; and House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World’s Most Powerful Address. He is the editor-at-large of Palmer: The Palm Beach Reader, and has written for publications around the world, including the New York Times, New York, GQ, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Air Mail and The Daily Beast. He lives in New York City.

Nina Burleigh is a journalist, best-selling author, documentary producer, and publisher of a substack on politics called American Freakshow. A contributing editor at The New Republic and frequent contributor to the New York Times and New York Magazine, her journalism has been published widely including in translation in the Norwegian and Italian press. She's the author of seven critically acclaimed nonfiction books on an array of topics including archaeological forgery, scientists in 18th Century Egypt, James Smithson, Amanda Knox in Italy, and the Trump women. In 2024 she published her first novel, Zero Visibility Possible — the first in a planned trilogy of dystopic satires. She is currently working on a book for Simon & Schuster on a double M**der on the island of Dominica to be published next year. She was born and educated in the Midwest, has been based in Washington, D.C., New York, Norway, Paris, and Italy, traveled and reported extensively in the Middle East. An adjunct professor at NYU's Arthur J. Carter Journalism Institute, Google Scholar says her work has been cited in hundreds of scholarly articles.

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