Carol Joynt’s July 16 luncheon at the George Town Club was a sellout as Washingtonians were eager to hear author Wednesday Martin’s back-story on privileged Upper East Side mommies. A thoughtful speaker, she clarified that her background in anthropology had prompted the title, “Primates of Park Avenue,” about the wives of the very rich, who do not escape mockery and anxiety in their one-upmanship lifestyle. The economic dependency of uber-wealthy women is unprecedented in the world of primates. The material status symbols coveted in New York were compared to Washington’s fascination with political clout. Admission to the right nursery school was cited as a first step to “proximity to power.”