The first history of the Yuppie phenomenon, chronicling the roots, rise, triumph and (seeming) fall of the young urban professionals who radically altered American life between 1980 and 1987.
As the products, people and catchphrases pile up, Triumph of the Yuppies can feel, for better and worse, like a lost verse of Billy Joel’s boomer anthem We Didn’t Start the Fire ... Thankfully, there are some through lines.
McGrath neatly integrates his comprehensive research with brief, magazine-style profiles ... Those who lived through the time will find themselves nodding (and perhaps smiling) in recognition at McGrath's concise evocations of shared cultural touchstones.