Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

Anderson Cooper is a skilled writer, bringing the past and it’s people, and places to life. The stories are real and is filled with poignant reminders of lives lived they had not chosen, but adapted and thrived in spite of that. I know his mother would be so proud. He is multitalented, and a succinct and interesting writer. I also read his book on the Astors, which I also recommend!

This book provides a bit of an insider’s perspective that sets it apart from other histories about the fabled Vanderbilt family. It’s written by famed journalist Anderson Cooper, who is himself part of the Vanderbilt family. Cooper doesn’t provide a glossy romanticized version of his family’s story. The family had tremendous wealth (at one point, their financial founder, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was the wealthiest man in the world). Yet, while unfathomable wealth was at the family’s disposal, profligate, uncontrollable spending over the generations has dissipated the family fortunes nearly entirely. For example in just six generations (and in some lines less) the money is largely gone. Yet, when one is a Vanderbilt, I suspect that connection and financial resources are available that the typical person doesn’t have access to. If you pick up this book thinking it will be a thorough family history, you’ll be mistaken. Instead, Cooper highlights family members from each generation to recount an aspect of their story, but all done to show the early rise and eventual fall of family fortunes. From that perspective this book is uniquely interesting. If you crave a more traditional history of the family, I recommend Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt by Arthur T. Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt family history is interwoven throughout much of US history. But its financial decline also is part of that story as well. As Cooper shows from his insider perspective, great wealth is nearly impossible to sustain over many generations.

Beautifully told history of The Vanderbilt family and their impact on New York. It moves along through the vagaries of time quickly and keeps a sense of humour in the narrative.

I bought and listened to the Audible version all the way through. Before I listened, I knew basically nothing about the Vanderbilts, aside from they were an old wealthy family and that Gloria sold jeans (though I actually had not made the connection between the old family and Gloria until the book). Pros: - Cooper is, not surprisingly, a great narrator. Clear and polished without being affected. - The book delivered to some extent on its title, describing the rise and fall of the dynasty, though emphasizing the fall. - Certainly I know more about the Vanderbilts than I did before the book and have some sense of their place in history. Cons: - The book did not pay nearly enough attention to how the money was made. Basically, we hear a lot about how Commodore Cornelius got his start, which was great, but not how he built an empire. How people make money is important. Was it hard work and smart decisions? What were those decisions? Management style? How did the transition into railroads work? Who were other important people in the businesses? Was he a straight shooter or slimy? Is there a "great crime" behind the great fortune? And then, we get to BIlly, his primary heir, who in eight years *doubled* what was already the country's largest fortune, but *nothing* about how he made that happen (or whether he lucked into it). From there we hear little about the Vanderbilt involvement with the railroad, even though they seemed to be at least a little involved. Basically, if you're going to present the rise and fall of a dynasty, spend at least as much time talking about how it was created (the hard part) as you do about how it was dissipated. - The book involves a lot of time travel, with flashbacks, forward, sideways. It does this at both a chapter level and within the chapters. It was incredibly hard to follow at times, especially since I had not heard of any of these people before. This, along with sometimes not naming the people being talked about until well into a story, was completely unhelpful. The stories themselves are frequently dramatic, and they don't need these devices to make them so. - Way too much detail about flowers at parties, attire, and home furnishings. It worked for Edith Wharton but not so well here. - Way too many details that are speculative. "He would have felt the ..." It seemed like there was an attempt at literary fiction here - it didn't succeed for me. - Why was there an entire chapter about Truman Capote? I get that he and Gloria were friends, but that doesn't seem to me to justify an entire chapter, or if it does, the chapter should be mostly about their relationship, and not a mini-biography of his rise and fall.

Ever since I toured Marble House in the early 80s I've been strangely fascinated with the Vanderbilt family. I'm pleasantly surprised at the historical detail of this book and never knew how exciting yacht racing could be! The book, to me, reads like a novel, with adjectives to make every scene come to life! What a varied and intriguing family. Since NYC is my favorite city, I especially enjoyed the history and characters. I had always heard the name, Truman Capote, but I didn't know who he was until now. This book explains why he's so famous, or, infamous. I definitely recommend this book if you're at all interested in the Vanderbilt's.

I will start by saying I usually don’t read non-fiction as it doesn’t comply with my main reason to read, but I had to read one to complete a requirement and this particular book attracted my attention. That said, I was happy to read it. Though is not my type of reading and some parts were extremely tedious, I managed to learn quite a bit about this family, how the original fortune was made and dilapidated across the generations as well as the influence of some of these people, whether Vanderbilt or not, had on their particular time in history. To others, the content of this book might be common knowledge, but I didn’t grow up here and my family is not the kind to have immersed themselves in the history of the places they’ve lived at so I don’t expect any of them to know what I learned from this book. The only fact I knew ahead of time was that Mr. Cooper was one of the sons of the late Gloria Vanderbilt. I particularly found the chapters about the 20th century Vanderbilts fascinating and it’s my opinion this family had their own soap opera going for generations. Why watch reruns of Dallas when you could just catch up on the family history? While some might not thing much of this book, I found it intriguing and learned quite a bit about the city I first walked around in my teen years while visiting with family. 4 stars

It was in very good condition for a used book. I have purchased from this vendor many times and have never been disappointed

This book is as much about New York City as it is about the Vanderbilts. I admit that I never before thought about what stood on the site of the Empire State Building before it was built. While I knew about Wall Street and the wall it was named after, I never gave a thought to who actually built it. I could have gone to my grave knowing little about the Vanderbilts; I don't care about them any more than they care about me. Yet the story is a fascinating one.

Ótimo para quem gosta de História, ótimo para quem quer conhecer os usos e costumes de uma parte da sociedade americana muito rica e famosa.

It leans more into the fall, the darkness. I couldn’t finish it. I’m not looking for inspiration on how to fall. I’m looking for inspiration on how to rise. It didn’t speak to me

This writing team have produced the best, most interesting and most human of the books that I have read about the super-rich American families of the 19th century. Mr Cooper's family insight is invaluable. A must for anyone interested in this period.

Interesting reading recommended to everybody

This is what my mom wanted