num_pages: 268
description: s/t: A Study in Ruling-class Cohesiveness Bohemian Grove is a 2700-acre virgin redwood grove 75 miles north of San Francisco, where the rich, the powerful &amp; their entourage visit with each other during the last two weeks of July while camping out in cabins &amp; tents. It's an Elks Club for the rich; a fraternity party in the woods; a scout camp for old guys, complete with initiation ceremony &amp; totem owl. It's owned by the Bohemian Club, founded in San Francisco in 1872. The Bohemians started going on their retreat shortly after the club was founded. It became big-time by the 1880s. It continues today. It isn't a place of power. It's a place where the powerful relax, enjoy each other's company &amp; get to know some of the artists, entertainers &amp; professors included to give the occasion a veneer of cultural &amp; intellectual pretension. Despite the suspicions of many on the Right &amp; some on the Left, it isn't a secret meeting place to plot, plan or conspire. Most important decisions happen in corporate &amp; foundation boardrooms, at the White House &amp; in congressional backrooms. Some wanna-be &amp; has-been Republican politicians visit, including future &amp; former presidents, but they're there to demonstrate what wonderful humans they are, to cultivate potential financial backers or to brag about past exploits. Readers suspecting that every gathering of the rich &amp; powerful has some deeper purpose may doubt this claim until they see evidence. For those who still might question my conclusions, try reading an excellent 1st-hand account of the Grove by a journalist from Spy magazine who snuck into the encampment in '89. The author had every incentive to tell it as he saw it. More recently, a reporter from Vanity Fair snuck into the Grove during '08 to investigate logging activity as well as the usual goings-on. His experiences are summarized in a 5/09 article, "Bohemian Tragedy". Every person who's written seriously on the Grove agrees: even tho they provide evidence that there is a socially cohesive upper class in the USA, Grove activities are harmless. The encampment is a bunch of guys kidding around, drinking with buddies, trying to relive their youth &amp; acting silly. These activities do contribute to social cohesion as an unintended consequence--the reason I studied the Bohemians in the 1st place--but the Grove is merely a playground for the powerful &amp; their entertainers that gives us a window into a lifestyle far removed from average Americans.--G. Wm Domhoff (edited)
language: English
title: The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats
titlecomplete: The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats
genres: Nonfiction, Politics
ratings_count: 35
places: Monte Rio, California
publisher: Harper & Row, Publishers (NY)