Step into the ballrooms of Gilded Age New York with the man who drew its guest lists. In Society as I Have Found It, first published in 1890, Ward McAllister recounts half a century among America's elite: the dinners at Delmonico's, the summers at Newport, the Parisian salons, and the delicate machinery of calls, cards, and invitations that decided who belonged. Witty, vain, candid, and endlessly observant, McAllister writes both as insider and performer, offering an unmatched firsthand account of how 'the Four Hundred' was made—and unmade. This edition presents the complete, unabridged original text, newly set with a fresh introduction and reader's notes that illuminate the people, places, and customs behind the memoir. Equal parts social history, comedy of manners, and confession, it remains essential reading for anyone fascinated by old New York. Part of The Founding Texts Library.