How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
Michael Gates Gill
Michael Gates Gill was someone for whom life was pretty easy. The son of Brendan Gill - the legendary editor for The New Yorker magazine - he'd hobnobbed with America's top writers and artists, from Ernest Hemingway to Andy Warhol. Michael had a great job in advertising, a comfortable family situation, and few worries.
Then, he lost nearly everything - including his job, his health, his marriage, and his self esteem. At 63, he felt like his life was over.
His new book details how Gill finds his way back - through unlikely friendships with the young people who work at Starbucks on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he takes a job as a barista-in-training, with duties including cleaning the bathrooms.
His tale begins: "This is the true, surprising story of an old white man who was kicked out of the top of the American Establishment, by chance met a young African-American woman from a completely different background, and came to learn what is important in life."
The next chapter in Gill's life is about to begin... his book is scheduled to be made into a Hollywood movie - with Tom Hanks playing Gill.
Michael Gates Gill was someone for whom life was pretty easy. The son of Brendan Gill - the legendary editor for The New Yorker magazine - he'd hobnobbed with America's top writers and artists, from Ernest Hemingway to Andy Warhol. Michael had a great job in advertising, a comfortable family situation, and few worries. 