- Brianna Sugalski
M. Dalto Takes Your Coffee Orders, EMPIRE STYLE + WHAT THE BONESMEN READ...
Last month, MacMillan and Fantasy powerhouse Leigh Bardugo unleashed Ninth House—a whimsically dark ode to the real-life secret society of East Coast elite, known as the Skull & Bones Society.
Although her stunning Adult Fantasy debut is the first time many readers are hearing of Yale University's undergraduate senior student society, Skull and Bones remains one of America's oldest and best kept secrets. It is a wonder groups like the Illuminati are still theorized about when there are real secret societies under our very noses... Some authors, such as Alexandra Robbins, have also reportedly claimed the society's affiliation with the Illuminati.
Since its inception in 1832, Skull and Bones has produced some of the country's most successful businessmen and politicians. It remained an all-male institution, until 1991, when women were first allowed admission. These days, 15 students, both male and female, are "tapped" annually—receiving an invitation of a promising lifetime of inscrutable power, social platform, and financial stability.
For your viewing pleasure, I've dug up four Bonesmen, and their reading tastes...
1. Austan Goolsbee, Class of 1991: American Economist and formerly served on Obama's cabinet
"When I'm driving to work, I listen to NPR's Morning Edition or All Things Considered. Then, when I get there, the White House puts out the White House Morning News Summary, which tends to be a lot of politics, so if we have some big staff meeting, I might just flip through it. When Rahm was the chief of staff, checking the News Summary was more of a defensive, nerve-wracking obligation. He would be running around "have you seen this article?" "Have you seen that?" I'll also visit the homepages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to make sure I'm up to speed. Oh and have you heard of Memeorandum? It's kind of an algorithm-based site showing who's linking to the top stories. I'll check that during the day..."
- Goolsbee, in his interview with The Atlantic
2. George W. Bush, Class of 1968: Former US President