Review:
“Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club 1888-1942”
By Pamela Bauer Mueller
Splendid Isolation Offers Glimpse
of America’s Most Exclusive Club
In 1886 a group of men seeking privacy and an escape from city life, created a retreat off the coast of Georgia on Jekyll Island. Nothing’s unusual about this except for the fact that these particular men were legendary business tycoons with surnames like Pulitzer, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt. And, together, they controlled about a sixth of the world’s wealth.
Their new retreat on one of Georgia’s Golden Isles became known as the Jekyll Island Club. And much of the real story of what went on while America’s first families of finance played golf, rode on horseback, and swam in the Atlantic can be found in the new historical novel by award-winning Georgia author Pamela Bauer Mueller, Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club 1888-1942.
Mueller’s intriguing story is told from the point of view of four faithful workers who helped make the privileged Jekyll Island Club a gracious retreat: the club superintendent, a ship’s captain, a governess, and one devoted family attendant.
Through meticulous research into letters, diaries, newspaper/magazine/internet articles, books, photo archives, and other sources—including interviews—Mueller discovered Jekyll Island characters who were as compelling as the millionaires themselves. “So I made the decision to write the book through their eyes,” she explained. “By intertwining certain events with historical figures, and telling stories through the eyes of ladies and gentlemen who served them, I could give readers a peek into the past.”
Spanning fifty-four years, from the Gilded Age to World War II, Splendid Isolation portrays the families of America’s most powerful financiers hunting, playing tennis, and bicycling along the sea island’s sand-packed roadways—or dining at the elegant Jekyll Island Hotel, frequenting the north beaches, and strolling under Spanish moss-draped trees.
Mueller deftly weaves believable dialogue into club history. Early in the novel, for example, Club Superintendent Ernest Gilbert Grob shares an account of Joseph Pulitzer and insurance magnate Henry Baldwin Hyde addressing a disreputable club member who escorted an unsuspecting young woman onto the island:
We all knew what was in store for this obviously miserable woman. …While I was helping her settle into one of the guest rooms, Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Hyde were talking to him.
(Mr. Pulitzer’s) voice was slow and he spoke with jerky movements, shaking his head of thick auburn hair as he enunciated his words.
“Just know that we’ll be keeping a very close watch on her while she’s here, and furthermore…”
“That won’t be necessary, Joseph,” the man interrupted.
“I believe that it will be, don’t you Henry?” asked Mr. Pulitzer, turning to face Mr. Hyde.
“And I’ll be in the background, always ready to assist, if need be, with the power of my press.” Mr. Pulitzer continued, like a fox.
The man flinched. Everyone knew the power of Joseph Pulitzer’s press.
“So tomorrow after breakfast I’ll take your lovely wife for a walk on the beach or on a bicycle trip. Then my associates will plan other activities for her and introduce her to the women employees. You will see that she’s always accompanied by one of us,” offered Mr. Hyde. Then he added, as if it were an after-thought, “Naturally you can join us if you wish.”
Not only did we never leave the woman alone with this member, we sat with her at all meals and made sure she was undisturbed at night. Some years later she wrote me a letter, thanking me for taking care of her.”
In addition to the Jekyll Island Club’s prestigious social status, the legendary hideaway also became an important player in history. The Club boasted visits from political dignitaries such as President William McKinley, for example, hosted a meeting that created the Federal Reserve Banking System, and played a role in the ceremonial opening of the first transcontinental telephone line across the United States.
“The real core of life in Jekyl [Jekyll] Island’s great days was to be found in the men’s after-dinner talks,” wrote the daughter of Club President Dr. Walter B. James. “It was always of great things, of visions and developing. If they didn’t have a map of the United States or World before them, they had a map of industrial or financial empires in their minds.”
For readers who love biographies and historical fiction, those who enjoyed seeing the wealthy people on deck or watching the “real party” down in third class in the movie Titanic, or anyone who savors classic books that give readers a glimpse of real life behind the scenes, Mueller’s Splendid Isolation is an entertaining read.
Settle back, relax, look at the photos of times long gone by, and read the engaging tale of what was possibly America’s most exclusive private club of all time.
WREN COTTAGE Writing & Editing
615•516•1256
http://www.wrencottage.net
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