The Real Gatsby: George Gordon Moore, A Granddaughter’s Memoir

When Mickey Rathbun began to investigate a rumor that her grandfather, George Gordon Moore, had been a model for Fitzgerald’s iconic character Jay Gatsby, she discovered closer connections than she had ever imagined. In her remarkable, compelling, and beautifully crafted memoir, The Real Gatsby: George Gordon Moore, she examines the striking parallels between the real person and his fictional doppelganger. Beyond their hardscrabble western origins, formative sojourns in England, extravagant lifestyles fueled by suspected criminal activities, and pursuit of unattainable women, Moore and Gatsby shared a heightened appreciation for the exquisite possibilities of life, what Fitzgerald called “romantic readiness.”

These similarities were hardly coincidental; Moore played polo and partied with the social set that inspired The Great Gatsby. Tommy Hitchcock, the legendary polo player on whom Fitzgerald based Gatsy’s Tom Buchanan, was Moore’s close friend, business partner, and housemate.

Rathbun’s book is an honest exploration of her grandfather’s astonishing life and legacy. With unflinching candor, she engages themes that are as relevant today as in Fitzgerald’s time: our single-minded obsession with wealth and social cachet and the mirage of the American Dream.