The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: a Study in Ruling-Class
Contents 2021 Introduction & Update vii Original Preface xxvi 1 The Bohemian Grove 1 2 Other Watering Holes 60 3 Do Bohemians, Rancheros, and Roundup Riders Rule America? 82 Appendix of Heavies 112 Index 247 vi A New Introduction & Update (January 2021) New Findings, New Perspectives, Old Criticisms The Bohemian Grove is a 2,700-acre virgin redwood grove in Northern California, 75 miles north of San Francisco. It is a woodsy playground for the rich, the powerful, the famous, and their entertainers, who visit with each other during the last two weeks of July while camping out in cabins and tents. It’s an Elks Club for the rich, a fraternity party in the woods, a boy scout camp for old guys, complete with an initiation cer- emony and a totem animal, the owl. It’s owned by the Bohe- mian Club, which was founded in San Francisco in 1872. The Bohemians started going on their retreat shortly after the club was founded, but it was not big-time until the 1880s. So, why would a political sociologist, who is purportedly focused on the study of power, politics, and social change in the United States, bother to study the Bohemian Grove if it is not a place of power, and if everyone is too buzzed to talk busi- ness or have a serious discussion about policy? That’s a fair question, and an important one in terms of dif- ferentiating rival theories of power in the United States. The answer goes back to the kind of criticisms that used to be made of a class-domination theory by the most important group of theorists in the social sciences during the 20th century: the pluralists.
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