Last Monday of the Month | 207 Water Street | Free
Join the South Street Seaport Museum for a recurring maritime-themed book club! You can find information on upcoming book selections below.
In partnership with McNally Jackson Books, Seaport Museum staff and special guests will stir up lively discussions informed by our shared love of literature, history, and preservation. Our literary selections will be announced one month in advance.
The event is free, and advance registration is encouraged. You don’t have to read the full selection to enjoy the event; everyone is welcome!
April 28, 6:30pm: When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan
For April, the book club will read this marvelously anecdotal history that vividly brings to life a grand story from the glittering Gilded Age in a combination of biography, history, architectural appreciation, and pure reading pleasure.
In this book, Justin Kaplan––Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Mark Twain––shares the history of cousins John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor who were endowed with the largest private fortunes of the day. We will read how each vied for primacy in New York society, producing the grandest hotels ever seen in a marriage of ostentation and efficiency that transformed American social behavior.
You don’t have to read the full book to enjoy the book club, all are welcome.
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age is available for purchase at most bookstores. Register for this meeting of the Seaport Museum Book Club today to receive a 10% off discount code for online orders of the book at McNally Jackson Books.
Enjoy More That the Museum Offers
Access to the historic ships and exhibition galleries at the Seaport Museum is not included with this event. If you would like to explore more that the Museum has to offer, book in advance or ask Museum staff about admission tickets, available Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm when you check in.
Museum admission tickets grant access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose at Pier 16 as well as all current exhibitions on view in the introduction galleries inside Schermerhorn Row located at 12 Fulton Street.
Admission tickets also include entry to the new Maritime City exhibition in A.A. Thomson & Co. located at 213 Water Street.
Previous Book Club Picks
March 2025: Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
February 2025: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
January 2025: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
November 2024: Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York by Evan T. Pritchard
October 2024: The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis
August 2024: The Waterworks by E. L. Doctorow
July 2024: Remarkable Creatures: A Novel by Tracy Chevalier
April 2024: Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip
March 2024: The Mad Girls of New York: A Nellie Bly Novel by Maya Rodale
February 2024: Here is New York by E. B. White
January 2024: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
November 2023: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
October 2023: Nothing Else But Miracles by Kate Albus
September 2023: Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan
June 2023: The Engineer’s Wife: A Novel of the Brooklyn Bridge by Tracey Enerson Wood
March 2023: The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky
February 2023: Soldier, Sailor, Spy: The Story of a Black American Loyalist by Charles Hoffmire
January 2023: Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan
October 2022: Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell
September 2022: Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift by Jessica DuLong
August 2022: Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older
July 2022: The Lost Endeavour by John Masefield
Ready for more?
Head over to our Programs and Events page to see what else is happening at the Museum. Sign up for an upcoming talk, learn more about visiting Wavertree, or explore our virtual offerings.