Explore The Vanderbilts Documented By Jerry E. Patterson Presented In Paper Edition
book details the fortune of the Vanderbilt family and is quite informative, I found it providing just enough detail and drama to keep me interested, Poorly organized but good enough to make me want to read more books on the family, Maybe/. Very thoroughly researched but read like a scholastic history book, Very dry. This was a really interesting read about the Vanderbilt family, from Cornelius to Gloria, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Cornelius Vanderbilt, who is a favorite historical figure of mine, Cornelius was an amazing man who ended his formal schooling atyears old, made a fortune in the shipping industry, and then atyears old changed professions and dominated the railroad industry, making another fortune.
He was awful to his wife disappearing for three weeks to Panama without bothering to let her know he was even leaving and awful to hischildren he had obvious favorites and obvious NOT favorites and told them so.
My absolute favorite line from the book especially the audio book great voice inflection by the reader: "His Cornelius use of profanity was epic.
" Love that line! I listened to this as an Audible freebie between credits, I had read an exhaustive bio of the Commodore, so some was repetitive, but it was an interesting overview of his progeny and how the money got passed down.
The extent of their wealth was truly extraordinary, given that railroads wereof the GNP inand the family had over a half million shares! This is very much a popular biography, with endless details on the familys houses theblock ofth Avenue gets plenty of coverage, yachts, and art collections.
Its like a really long Vanity Fair article, but fun, At one point I was losing track of people and had to look at the family tree, After the informative opening that devotes a lot of pages to The Mr Vanderbilt, his childhood and how he created his fortune, this reads more like a family history or expanded family tree written by a family member or an adoring fan of the family.
I was hoping this would have more biographytype information on the generations through the ages, Instead, this is mostly snippets that could have come from E!TV if it had been around in the earlyth century, Quick descriptions of family events
that are not really all that interesting,
In the end, this felt like one of those family histories written by your great great aunt, that reveals a few secrets from each generation.
Several people in your family will love that book, but no one outside your family will be interested in reading about what great great Aunt Bertha did in.
The best thing to come out of this for me is it made me want to find a book that covers the rise of the rail industry domestically and abroad.
Though this was a bit of a chore to finish without skimming, I didn't absolutely hate it, so it gets thestar OK treatment.
A fascinating look at one of Americas iconic families, The Vanderbilts were “new money”, and as such were in competition with the Astors for dominance in New York City society during the gilded age.
A thorough look at the family, yet done in a compelling narrative that left me wanting to learn more,.Stars rounded down
This was written inand feels dated,
This is decent in places but in others overly descriptive of monotonous paintings, interiors of houses, etc,
There's also a bit of sexism I the treatment of the more well known women members of the family,
I read this in January in anticipation of Julian Fellowes The Gilded Age I enjoyed this quite a bit, I've read a lot about the Vanderbilts and it gets a little repeaty but I found this one, it wasn't long, and I decided to give it a go.
And it has a lot more info on the Commodore and William Henry than you usually get, So I was pleasantly surprised, Incredibly well researched but I found it hard to get through, the facts were delivered so matteroffactly, Listened to this on audible it was free while I was painting a room, Found it interesting as I grew up in RI near all of the Vanderbilt mansions, Interesting history. Was written inso no mention of Anderson Cooper, but was a good top level history, I recently went to Biltmore for the first time, and it made me want to know more about its builder and his family, Those Vanderbilts are a piece of work, The author was pretty objective, and the facts seemed on point, but I found myself profoundly irritated at the idea of these people having way too much money.
My interest in the Vanderbilts is a genuine hobby, It was sparked by a photo a New York mansion, This book was more of a Vanderbilt timeline, I didn't learn anything profound, It seems as though only two generations were successful entrepreneurs and investors, The rest of the family seemed to open the drain and enjoyed high society, The book offered a nice overview of the Vanderbilts family history, however the style was high level, matter of fact, and focused on their material possessions but did explore as deeply the personalities of these American moguls.
A nice introduction to the Vanderbilt history, however lacked the depth that I have enjoyed with other historical biographies, While this book has some wonderful photos, it is just a coffee table book, I was hoping to get more of biography of the family, but this just didn't have to amount of information I would have liked.
Very easy to read, though, Learned a lot about these folks, If youre into such things, this is a great overview of a family that managed to influence everything from travel to culture, Im fascinated either the gilded age, and this book gave a very succinct view of that short era of our history, A really good chronology of the Vanderbilt family but pestered out after the deaths of the Commodore and William Henry, Great overview of the Vanderbilts, Enjoyed the read! I listened to this on audiobook, It's not a long book and, overall, I enjoyed listening to it, My only complaint is that it pretty much ends with saying that Gloria Vanderbilt was born and there was conflict over her upbringing, I really wish the book had gone further into the modern era, Otherwise, it was a fascinating glimpse into The Gilded Age from the perspective of one influential and very rich family, Having recently visited Biltmore, I was curious to find out what I could about George and his wife Edith, who were the master and mistress of Biltmore.
This book starts with the parents and grandparents of the Commodore, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and pretty much covers the family up to modern times, Some members get nothing more than a mention in a geneological chart, while others get entire chapters devoted to them, Although I did learn more about George, there is very little mention of Edith, to my disappointment, There are some good stories about the more prominent family members, and a lot about the houses they all built the 'bilt" part of their name was apt although it actually means "village" in Dutch.
Over the years I think this family must have kept several architectural firms in business, not to mention construction firms,
There are some mistakes in the book, such a chart showing one son dying inbut the text says he died in.
In another place, an engagement is announced on June,then a page later it is referred to as having happened on June,, Small stuff but things that should have been caught,
The book is a coffeetable style, and so it's full of photos, which I loved, Besides the houses and many interiors, particularly of Biltmore, the photos of the family give a wonderful view of life in the Gilded Age.
I loved seeing the clothing, the hair styles, and the settings yachts, ballrooms, carriages, racetracks, etc, TRUELY THE GILDED AGE This was a great overview of the Vanderbilts and I enjoyed the progression of the family history throughout the years.
Obviously a lot of content to cover but it wasnt dry and was really quite enjoyable, Discusses the Vanderbilt family and how they established their fortunes, examining individual personalities and the glittering mansions in which family members led their fabled lives.
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