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Chargement... Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbiltpar Arthur T. Vanderbilt, II
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. By fair means and foul, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt built a fortune of $105 million in the mid-nineteenth century. One hundred years later, most of that fortune was gone. In Fortune's Children, Arthur T. Vanderbilt II paints a vivid portrait of his ancestors. The Commodore is one of the most important capitalists this country has ever produced, and with the marriage of his great-granddaughter to the Duke of Marlborough, this book will make excellent reading for any fan of Downton Abbey. The author states that the fortune dissipated quickly because the Commodore was the first and only Vanderbilt who was obsessed with making money. The Vanderbilt men who followed were obsessed with keeping it. You need both to maintain those bank balances. Some-- like Alva Belmont Vanderbilt-- were obsessed with spending it to ram their way into New York's high society. Alva built some of the largest and most ostentatious homes ever to grace these shores, and the houses' interiors were even more lavish than their exteriors. Each of the author's ancestors is portrayed with wit and sorrow, which can often happen with the "advantage" of hindsight. This is an absorbing tale of greed, snobbery, and profligacy that kept me fascinated from first page to last. If this is your cup of tea, I urge you to pour yourself some. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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Références à cette œuvre sur des ressources externes. Wikipédia en anglais (13)Vanderbilt: The very name is synonymous with the Gilded Age. The family patriarch, 'the Commodore,' built a fortune that made him the world's richest man by 1877. Yet, less than fifty years after his death, no Vanderbilt was counted among the world's richest people. Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, he traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)973.08621History and Geography North America United States United StatesClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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As a house geek, this book was very satisfying. I really liked reading about the construction and furnishing of the Vanderbilt homes. I think George Vanderbilt was the coolest of all; turning his back on New York society and building his little duchy in North Carolina and living the life of a gentleman farmer. (Just what I would do if a big powerball win were to roll my way)
It also just kills me that I do not have a time machine and can't go back to the times when all various Vanderbilt descendants were auctioning off all their possessions. Amazing stuff, going for pennies on the dollar and my poor self yet unborn and unable to bid. Maybe someday there will be a repeat of this with other wealthy families, but I have seen pics of Donald Trump's homes......and quite honestly, I'm not spending good money on tacky crap regardless of how much it originally cost.
So read this book and live vicariously through the Vanderbilt family for a while.....it's fun! ( )