Vanderbilt : the rise and fall of an American dynasty

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Vanderbilt : the rise and fall of an American dynasty / Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe.

Cooper, Anderson, (author.). Howe, Katherine, 1977- (author.).

Summary:

"When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father's small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires--one in shipping and another in railroads--that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by "the Commodore," subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers--the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius's grandson and namesake had built--the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all. Now, the Commodore's great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the family's empire, basked in the Commodore's wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other."-- Amazon.

Record details

ISBN: 9780062964618
ISBN: 0062964615
Physical Description: xvi, 317 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), portraits, genealogical table ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2021]
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Prologue. The Breakers: March 30, 2018 -- The tycoon: January 4, 1877 -- Van der Bilt: c. 1660 -- The Blatherskite and the namesake: April 2, 1882 -- Society as I have found it: October 22, 1883 -- Venetian princesses: March 26, 1883 -- American royalty: November 6, 1895 -- Failure is impossible: May 4, 1912 -- Down with the ship: May 1915 -- Standing in a cold shower, tearing up hundred-thousand-dollar bills: September 15, 1934 -- Living a Roman à Clef: November 21, 1934 -- Gloria at La Côte Basque: November 28, 1966 -- The last Vanderbilt: October 28, 1978, and June 17, 2019 -- Epilogue. Christmas Eve, 1930.

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1 of 1 copy available at Headingley Municipal Library.

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Location	Call Number / Copy Notes	Barcode	Shelving Location	Holdable?	Status	Due Date
Headingley Municipal Library	929.2 COO (Text)	36440000278036	Adult Nonfiction	Volume hold	Available	-

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Reviews

Summary

Baker & Taylor
Drawing on never-before-seen documents and told from a unique insiderâs viewpoint, the CNN anchor and New York Times bestselling author tells the story of his legendary family and their remarkable influence. 300,000 first printing.
Baker & Taylor
Drawing on never-before-seen documents and told from a unique insider's viewpoint, the CNN anchor tells the story of his legendary family and their remarkable influence.
HARPERCOLL
New York Times bestselling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynastyâhis motherâs family, the Vanderbilts.
One of the Washington Post's Notable Works of Nonfiction of 2021
When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his fatherâs small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empiresâone in shipping and another in railroadsâthat would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by âthe Commodore,â subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakersâthe seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Corneliusâs grandson and namesake had builtâthe family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all.
Now, the Commodoreâs great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the familyâs empire, basked in the Commodoreâs wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other.
Written with a unique insiderâs viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.

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