Dancing on the brink of the world — Frances Moffat

Robust, rollicking and incisive, this is the story of a social scene unsurpassed for energy, flair, and sheer zaniness - the story of the rich and super rich of San Francisco. For just as San Francisco was unique among cities, so the high society there always shone with a vibrant life all its own, thriving for over a century, in civilized madness, hanging on to the western edge of America, dancing on the brink of the world.

From the waltzes of Ned Greenway to the ragtimes of the Crockers, from the fox trots of the millionaires grown from hardware store owners and butchers through the emergence of the jet set in the days of the Twist, Frances Moffat chronicles the fortunes of this colorful elite. Beginning with the arrival of the first social contingent on the sailing ship 'Panama' in 1949, she paints a vivid and amusing portrait of a small band of sophisticated outsiders faced with the awesome challenge of carving a niche for themselves in this brawling, decadent, gold-rich western seaport.

Carve a niche they did, with wealth that was there for the taking, and with titles and prestige gained from inter-marriages with the eastern establishment and European nobility. And though the old days are gone, one wonders how much things have really changed.