Overview

The number one New York Times bestselling authors of Vanderbilt return with another riveting history of a legendary American family, the Astors, and how they built and lavished their fortune. The story of the Astors is a quintessentially American story--of ambition, invention, destruction, and reinvention. From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic, one of many shocking and unexpected twists in the family's story. In this unconventional, page-turning historical biography, #1 New York Times bestselling authors Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe chronicle the lives of the Astors and explore what the Astor name has come to mean in America--offering a window onto the making of America itself. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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Reviews

"""A brisk, entertaining history of the Astors, a storied dynasty that left an indelible mark on New York's streets, parks, museums, libraries, hotels, and a famous gay bar...A spirited saga of glitz and greed."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" ""An engaging, multigenerational story that is factual and nuanced."" -- ""Booklist (starred review)"" ""This meticulously detailed family saga is also rich with insight into US history, including revealing chapters on topics ranging from mid-19th-century populist sentiments concerning Shakespeare and the early 20th-century gay scene. History buffs and readers fascinated by the rich and famous should take note."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"""

Author Information

Anderson Cooper joined CNN in 2001 and has anchored his own program, Anderson Cooper 360�, since March 2003. Cooper has won 18 Emmys and numerous other major journalism awards. He lives in New York with his sons. Anderson Cooper joined CNN in 2001 and has anchored his own program, Anderson Cooper 360�, since March 2003. Cooper has won 18 Emmys and numerous other major journalism awards. He lives in New York with his sons. Katherine Howe is the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, The House of Velvet and Glass, and Conversion. She hosted Salem: Unmasking the Devil for the National Geographic Channel, and her fiction has been translated into over twenty-five languages. A native Texan, she lives in New England and upstate New York, where she teaches at Cornell and is at work on her next novel.

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