Winner of the 2005 Book Prize from the Association for Humanist Sociology A portrait of the contentious, controversial history of the Manhattan elite's favorite fabled summer playground 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 Hamptons provides 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.

“The Hamptons” is synonymous with luxury. Simply mentioning the name conjures images of poolside soirées, grandiose waterfront estates and endless days on the beach socializing with the upper echelon. But before this famed peninsula became the summer haunt of the glitterati, its forty miles of rolling sand dunes provided the perfect landscape for English settlers. Once New York high society caught wind of the charming hamlets and salty air, its members—from the Fords to the Vanderbilts—soon turned The Hamptons into a summer oasis. Next came the creatives seeking solitude, a place to write and sketch, away from the urban cacophony. John Steinbeck in Sag Harbor. Jackson Pollock in the Springs. And Andy Warhol in Montauk. Now, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Calvin Klein, Madonna, Alec Baldwin and Martha Stewart all enjoy Hamptons homes. They may come from different realms, but what’s one thing all Hamptonites, honorary or official, can agree on? The locale boasts a unique allure—one that morphs to meet the desires of its next seasonal guest or lifelong dweller.

In over 180 vivid color photos, this beautiful book provides a photographic exploration of the lifestyles and landscape of Long Island's famed East End. This collection, a work of art and a documentary, epitomizes the diversity and eclectic nature of this historic locale. The varied methods of capture â film or digital, time-lapse or infrared â produce imagery that evokes a sense of nostalgia and provides a greater understanding of the Hamptons as a whole. The hamlets and villages depicted include Amagansett, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, East Marion, Greenport, Montauk, Napeague, Noyack, The Quogues, Sag Harbor, Sagaponack, Shelter Island, Southampton, Springs, Water Mill, and Westhampton. The revered past and unique history of the Hamptons carries through to the present-day East End. Rich with art and culture, still picturesque and diverse, the Hamptons are ever changing and evolving. Looking ahead, this book will become a resource of historical record, as it chronicles the contemporary community in a beautiful and truthful way.

From polo players to migrant workers, an inside peek at one of America's most exclusive communities.

In the Hamptons, the everyday people are as complicated and fascinating as the millionaires... When Katie Doyle moves across the country to the Hamptons, she is hoping for summer employment, new friends for her young son, and a chance to explore a new love affair with a dazzling investor. What she finds is a strange cocktail of classes, where society’s one-percenters vacation alongside local, hard-working people who’ve lived in the Hamptons for generations. Though she’s looking forward to their move, Katie is wary about mingling with her boyfriends’ East Coast elite circles. She soon discovers Southampton isn’t all that it seems to be on the surface—and neither are the people who live there. As George takes Katie on a whirlwind tour of country clubs, haute couture, and lavish events, she is amazed to witness sudden whims become dire needs, extra-marital affairs blossoming right and left, and people purchase friends and loyalties like a pair of shoes. Even the middle-class townspeople maintain a determined façade while maneuvering like sharks among the wealthy summer invaders. The more Katie becomes immersed, the more she learns the secrets of both the upstairs and downstairs, the upper crust and middle of the road. The combustion between the classes becomes explosive as the summer tears on. Betrayals, a sexual predator, and a missing person lost in murky waves drive the reader on a racing Learjet ride through impossible twists and turns until landing at the shocking conclusion. When she meets Luke, a local surfer and middle school teacher, he makes her question what it is she really wants as she understands the life she’s begun for herself is built on shifting Hamptons’ dunes.

The Hamptons are hot. Gordon, who grew up there, traces the invention of the idea of the Hamptons as a resort for the elite of New York City and shows how various forces, including artists, real estate developers, and media professionals transformed what had been a quiet rural place into a modern and worldwide phenomenon. 175 illustrations.