Author Talk: Dylan Gottlieb on "Yuppies"

Join Bentley University historian Dylan Gottlieb for a conversation about his new book, Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. The book argues that "yuppies” were not just a 1980s pop-culture punchline, but a new urban professional class that was created by the rise of finance. Today, we still live with many of the trends they pioneered: the meritocratic rat race, the pursuit of physical fitness and wellness, an obsession with gourmet food, and the increased gender and racial diversity of our elite. The yuppie takeover of cities like New York began a more unequal chapter in American life—one we continue writing today.

Lunch will be served and registration is required to attend.

Dylan Gottlieb writes and teaches about the history of capitalism and cities in modern America. He is an assistant professor of history at Bentley University. A cohost of Who Makes Cents: A History of Capitalism Podcast, he has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Gotham, the Journal of American History, and Aeon.

In discussion with Gottlieb is Japonica Brown-Saracino. Brown-Saracino is Professor of Sociology, American Studies and WGS at Boston University.  She is the author of several books on gentrification, including A Neighborhood That Never Changes (Chicago 2009) and The Gentrification Debates (Routledge 2010). Her most recent book is The Death and Life of Gentrification: A New Map of a Persistent Idea (Princeton, 2026).