As a teenager, Kristen Richardson declined to be a deb…but as an adult she strove to understand how such a seemingly antiquated ritual could thrive in modern times. In this social history, Richardson traces the debutante's roots back to the court of Elizabeth I, across the Pond to colonial America, into the post Civil War South and Gilded Age New York, and on through the twentieth century. The white gowns only thinly mask the harsh realities of classism, racism, and sexism. Yet The Season reveals how the women involved—particularly the debs' mothers and for-profit "fixers"—leveraged the debutante ritual for influence, power, and celebrity. It is an intriguing glimpse into an oft-overlooked record of women's history.