Astor
By Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe
- Release Date: 2023-09-19
- Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Description
A NPR Best Book of the Year
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, featuring black-and-white and color photographs, #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.
Reviews
Astor
1By Bibi Cakes1Very odd book. It did not focus enough on the Astor family.It was OK
3By 213MAMA bit superficialExcellent reading!
5By Mommy's Night OutA very good read of history, place, people and time that feels relevant to 2023. What I would give to be a fly on THE Mrs. Astor’s wall!Loved!
5By Colleen85928592I loved this book - I hope they write another book on the styvusant family next!Enjoyed
4By Luv4 chicoI’ve always had a baffling fascination with the gilded age and American history. I learned a lot about the Astors that I did not know.