The Challenge of Coming of Age in Upper-Class in AmericaIn American Blue Blood, William C. Codington brings us the Lightfoot family of Virginia and Philadelphia that for generations has been profoundly aware and proud of its aristocratic heritage. Since the country’s founding, however, America has been at war with itself over issues of class, and, when confronted with the opposing democratic social currents of the late 20th century, each Lightfoot family member must decide what is and what is not acceptable as an American. The resulting debate has created deep conflict between the siblings, between spouses, and between the generations.
Tom Lightfoot, a young man starting out in the world, finds that he does not fit in professionally because of his aristocratic heritage, and, socially, he feels alienated as friends and family turn against, abandon, or betray that heritage. At every turn he must struggle to reconcile it with mainstream democratic values. In a larger sense Tom’s path to success, and the path to survival for the Lightfoot family as a coherent whole, is a passage through a battle of competing visions for the social framework of our country in the late 20th century.
With few exceptions, narratives of upper class America have been written by outsiders, infiltrators, muckrakers, or hangers-on. This coming-of-age story, edited by William C. Codington, has been written by a genuine insider.
Front cover: “Between them was a portrait of Isaac Leigh, Philadelphia Quaker and abolitionist, whose resemblance to me most of the family agreed was ‘uncanny.’ It was painted by Robert Charles Leslie, an American who studied under Benjamin West in London.”
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