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The Astors, by Virginia Cowles
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The Astors; whose immense fortune came from furs, ships, and real estate; whose mansions bejewelled Fifth Avenue, Newport, and England; who became leaders — first in America, then in Britain — of polite society; whose births and deaths, private feuds and public scandals, political ambitions and philanthropic munificence have fascinated the rest of the world for close to two centuries.
The story of their rise to prominence, of their long reign, of their influence and importance, is more than the saga of a rich and unusual family, for it illuminates from a unique vantage point the history of the past two hundred years.
When twenty-year-old John Jacob Astor arrived in icebound Baltimore from Germany in 1783, his ambition was to live comfortably from the sale of musical instruments.
At his death in 1848, he was the richest man in America — he ruled over an empire and had founded a dynasty.
Today’s generation of Astors, still wealthy, lead influential but less flamboyant lives than their predecessors — as modest businessmen, horse breeders, playboys, philanthropists, novelists.
But between them and their ancestor John Jacob — who had spent his early years trudging along Indian trails bartering for furs and his last fourteen years quadrupling his fortune many times over on Manhattan real estate and rentals — lies a peerless array of characters, social and political forces in their own times, whose power and prestige continue to be felt today.
There was William Backhouse Astor, frugal and sombre, who loathed social gatherings. There was the Southerner Charlotte Augusta, who during the Civil War raised and equipped a regiment of black soldiers to fight for the North.
There was Caroline Astor, who gave balls costing as much as $200,000.
There was the vindictive, prickly William Waldorf Astor, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress.
There was an Astor feud settled only by the prospect of financial gain with the creation of the Waldorf-Astoria, designed to bring exclusiveness to the masses, a “glittering incandescent fantasy”.
And there was Nancy Astor, vociferous Member of Parliament and leader of the Cliveden Set.
From the free-wheeling entrepreneurial days of the early nineteenth century through two world wars to today, the Astors have been in the forefront of their age, both here and abroad, luminaries of politics, society, and culture.
Through five generations, in all their splendour, in a richly anecdotal narrative interwoven with paintings, drawings, and photographs making vivid the people, their mansions, their rise to social prominence in the United States and in England, here then are The Astors.
Virginia Cowles (1910-1983) was an author and journalist. Born in Vermont, USA she became a well-known journalist in the 1930s with her columns appearing on both sides of the Atlantic. During the Second World War she covered the Italian campaign, the liberation of Paris, and the Allied invasion of Germany. In 1945 she married the politician and writer Aidan Crawley. She wrote many biographies including Winston Churchill; the Era and the Man and Edward VII and His Circle.
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- Sales Rank: #20957 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-07-27
- Released on: 2015-07-27
- Format: Kindle eBook
Most helpful customer reviews
65 of 71 people found the following review helpful.
I rather dislike giving what is a fairly decent book such a ...
By Jaie J.
I rather dislike giving what is a fairly decent book such a low review, but honestly, the last straw came when the author described someone as "fat, ugly, energetic" (Elsa Maxwell).
I'm not sure where Cowles learned tact, but it obviously wasn't as a serious author. This sort of faux pas is just a bigger one in an entire raft of snide, catty remarks throughout the book, and I have a feeling, in her other works.
Perhaps the author should work on learning to approach her topics less personally. It isn't up to the author of a work meant to be taken as decent historical research to make such a personal remark about a historical figure, nor it is her place to decide who is "fat" or "ugly".
Three stars is all I'm willing on this one, and that's because aside from the bitchy remarks, the book is well done, if rather light reading for anyone that just wants the basics of the Astor family. The book sadly is ruined with nasty asides, and what seems to be some personal opinions that seep into the work.
After reading a couple of other low reviews on the author's other works, I actually thought maybe they were wrong and were reading too much into the paragraphs, but now I realize, these low reviews are by actual history lovers who are justly disgusted with such a tabloid approach to what could have been a really great book.
Readable, but be prepared for the author to forget she's trying to be a historian and not a reporter for The Mirror.
Detach yourself Cowles, before someone decide the first three letters of your last name describe your personality.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Meet the Astor Family
By Andrea Engle
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.) Propelled by Cowles' fluid prose, the reader embarks on a journey spanning three centuries and two continents. This saga of the Astor Family begins with its founder, the penniless German immigrant John Jacob Astor, who learns the rudiments of the Canadian/American fur trade around the time of the French & Indian Wars. With consummate skill he transforms a fur-based mercantile business into a real-estate empire, snapping up various properties in colonial New York, and becoming the richest man in America. Cowles paints the various Astor descendants "warts and all," as Oliver Cromwell famously instructed his portraitist. The Astor Family engaged in sharp business practices, brutal treatment of American Indians, political corruption, bribery, support for Appeasement, not to mention social snobbery. This book profiles the matriarch Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, famed arbiter of New York Society (ostensibly limited to the 400 people who could fit comfortably into her ballroom). It also devotes several pages to the politically-minded Waldorf and Nancy Astor, their careers in Parliament, and their notorious support of Appeasement via the "Cliveden" set. Still, some Astors had redeeming traits and performed acts of benevolence, including support for what became the New York Public Library. All in all, a concise and satisfying read ...
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Still worth reading.
By The Cruiser's view on Amazon
Some interesting bits of information I had not known, but it moved too slow in spots to keep me fully engrossed Decided it was still worth reading even with the drag.
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