Fortune's Children

Rating:
Summary: Vanderbilt Voyeurism
Review: "Fortune's Children" is an enormously fun read. Arthur Vanderbilt relates how his ancestors accumulated and then depleted an almost unimaginable fortune. In the process they created a lot of majestic homes and even more miserable people.

It all starts with the Commodore, a poorly-educated miser with a mean-streak and a wild side. It ends with the battle over baby Gloria, whose genes prepared her for the jeans that brought the family a fresh infusion of cash. In between, a variety of Vanderbilt spendthrifts and misanthropes. There's George, who built the largest private home ever constructed in the US -- Biltmore Estate. By the time he was done, he was out of money, and his heirs couldn't afford to live there. There's Consuelo, bullied into marrying a Duke by a mother with royal-mania. And there's Reggie, a gin-soaked playboy whose greatest accomplishment was looking good in a tux. Oh, the humanity.

The author spends a little too much time on the supporting cast, including Ward McAllister and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. They're interesting but take the focus away from the main characters. He also fails to flesh-out a number of family members, including Alfred, who inherited the bulk of the fortune but had the misfortune of booking passage on the Lusitania.

Photos and a family-tree help you keep straight who's who, and all in all, this portrait of the people who personified the best and worst of "The Gilded Age" is most worthwhile. And, more proof that money can buy comfort, but not happiness.

Rating:
Summary: Vanderbilt Voyeurism
Review: "Fortune's Children" is an enormously fun read. Arthur Vanderbilt relates how his ancestors accumulated and then depleted an almost unimaginable fortune. In the process they created a lot of majestic homes and even more miserable people.

It all starts with the Commodore, a poorly-educated miser with a mean-streak and a wild side. It ends with the battle over baby Gloria, whose genes prepared her for the jeans that brought the family a fresh infusion of cash. In between, a variety of Vanderbilt spendthrifts and misanthropes. There's George, who built the largest private home ever constructed in the US -- Biltmore Estate. By the time he was done, he was out of money, and his heirs couldn't afford to live there. There's Consuelo, bullied into marrying a Duke by a mother with royal-mania. And there's Reggie, a gin-soaked playboy whose greatest accomplishment was looking good in a tux. Oh, the humanity.

The author spends a little too much time on the supporting cast, including Ward McAllister and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. They're interesting but take the focus away from the main characters. He also fails to flesh-out a number of family members, including Alfred, who inherited the bulk of the fortune but had the misfortune of booking passage on the Lusitania.

Photos and a family-tree help you keep straight who's who, and all in all, this portrait of the people who personified the best and worst of "The Gilded Age" is most worthwhile. And, more proof that money can buy comfort, but not happiness.

Rating:
Summary: A family affair
Review: Fortune's Children was a good read for anyone interested in how the rich lived in the late 1800's. The author detailed the main characters very well as well as the over the top, outlandish homes that these characters resided in. It is truly a nice look into that era and what it all meant to be a Vanderbilt. Reading this book has piqued my interest in other books about the first rich family of America. Once I began reading this book I had trouble putting it down.

Rating:
Summary: Subject Matter Not So Exciting for an Actual Vanderbilt
Review: I am a great-grandson of William K Vanderbilt Jr. and I must say I don't find all of these books about my relatives particularly fascinating. It is interesting though that the fortune was largely gone within a century and that my more well-to-do relatives are such because of my other family side's prudent investing (my grandmother's family), rather than inheriting great Vanderbilt wealth, they inherited decent sums (certainly fortunes but nothing like the Vanderbilt ones) and have played wisely over the years, rather than spending their wealth like fiends.

Rating:
Summary: Subject Matter Not So Exciting for an Actual Vanderbilt
Review: I am a great-grandson of William K Vanderbilt Jr. and I must say I don't find all of these books about my relatives particularly fascinating. It is interesting though that the fortune was largely gone within a century and that my more well-to-do relatives are such because of my other family side's prudent investing (my grandmother's family), rather than inheriting great Vanderbilt wealth, they inherited decent sums (certainly fortunes but nothing like the Vanderbilt ones) and have played wisely over the years, rather than spending their wealth like fiends.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: I loved this book.
True history that surpasses fiction, written in an entertaining way. If you have ever visited the mansions in Newport, you will especially appreciate this story.

Rating:
Summary: The authoritative work
Review: If you have toured a Vanderbilt house in Newport RI, Hyde Park NY, Northport NY, Florham NJ, or in New York City (Yes, one of the original Vanderbilt homes is a store on 5th Avenue and 52rd Street) and have had your interested piqued, then this is a excellent book for an overview of the family and there beginnings. The book never goes very deep but gives you a very good understanding of how the Commodore made his first $95 million and how his son, William, turned it into almost $200 million. But the best part of the book helps you understand how the next generation of William II and Cornelius III and wives spent almost all of the incredible fortune. The author, Arthur Vandy, is kinder to Alva than most books, but hey, they are related.

Rating:
Summary: What if a miser's grandchildren were spendthrifts?
Review: Meet Cornelius Vanderbilt, a.k.a. the Commodore. In a time when there were only 12 millionaires in America, he was worth $50 million. By the time he died, it was double. He was a ruthless miser who owned a monopoly over New York City. When he died, he passed it all down to a son who increased the fortune dramatically. When the son died, well, the grandkids spent it.

Donate pennies to charities; build mansions with the rest. This is how the remaining Vanderbilts lived for nearly a century. Would you have believed that 5th Avenue was a residential area? You should, they OWNED it. Richer than any other family in the world, the Vanderbilts had no one to compete against except themselves, constantly building larger mansions, country houses, and yachts. Their picture galleries could fill the Louvre. Their libraries could make any bookworm (and his grandkids) happy until their death. The dollar amounts that appear in every page in this book will make you rethink the real value of $1 million.

But aside from that, they have a story that's extraordinarily well written. Including details only a family member could, Arthur T. Vanderbilt II fashions a history that would make any bank jealous. Included (and to much relief) are pages of pictures and a family tree, both of which I referred back to often. His research is greater than any other I've seen, with a bibliography and notes spanning 80 pages. Quotes smother the pages and give a more than adequate description to every person, house, and ball relative to the family. An incredible story it is, containing 150 years. I commend Mr. Vanderbilt (the author) for taking the challenge, and more importantly, doing it with style.

Rating:
Summary: A Book For the Soap Opera Fan, that's True
Review: The many impressions this book left me with, are almost overshadowed by the wonder that no one turned it into a mini series. Everything the Tv/Movie audience of today craves is here: Rags to Riches, Business back stabbing that makes JR Ewening look like mother Theresa, Mistress' divorce, goldigging women, History of steam ships and Railroads, The back drop of NY City, Political Weasles, Amusing stories, Sex , Extravagance beyond belief, The family tragedies( Alfred V> went down with Lusitania, Heroically), decline and financial ruin, Battles over the estates by rich heirs played out in public, and even the often unhappy state of people who have more money than anyone. The story of Consuelo being sold to an English 'lord' to acquire a title, while mommy locks her up to keep her from the man she loved. AND ITS ALL TRUE ! Truth is stranger, and better than fiction. Most people will enjoy this book, for many reasons. There is much to be learned in the lessons of the Vanderbilt family, all begun with the birth of 'The Commodore' 18 years after the birth of America. I only wish the author had added a chapter on how he felt about his ancestors, and their accomplishments/failures. Not only is the book worth the price, I've bought three copies because over the years I keep forgetting who borrowed it. And everyone I've recommended it to, has thanked me.

Rating:
Summary: All you wanted to know about the Vanderbilts-and more!
Review: What can I say? This book is truly fabulous. Even if you are not interested in the Vanderbilt family, you must read this book! It just shows how truth is stranger than fiction. The cast of characters in this book includes: Cornelius Vanderbilt, his son William Henry, the famous Alva Vanderbilt (who practically sells her daughter to an broke English lord for marriage) to Gloria Vanderbilt as a little child getting fought over. These are just some of the interesting people you will meeet in this book. I would give it ten stars, if I could!