He was a powerful man and he deserves a powerful biography. I did find it a bit disjointed at times; the author sometimes flips back and forth to different time periods within the same paragraph (and on at least one occasion, within the same sentence) which can be a little jarring and hard to follow as a narrative. Excellent account and beautiful photographs. This is a meticulously researched and detailed duel biography of Gilded Age millionaires Alva Vanderbilt and her daughter, Conseulo. The son of an impoverished farmer and boatman, Vanderbilt quit school at age 11 to work on the waterfront. Reading Consuelo and Alva is less a mother-daughter story than a story about a storm system, one that materially affected the lives of women everywhere in more ways than I realized. Both Alva and Consuelo were involved in the suffragette movement in America and England. Alva and Consuelo used their great fortunes to help change the status of women, serve the poor and refugees during WWII (Consuelo). Cornelius Vanderbilt, byname Commodore Vanderbilt, (born May 27, 1794, Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York, U.S.—died January 4, 1877, New York, New York), American shipping and railroad magnate who acquired a personal fortune of more than $100 million.. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book is one of the best biographies I've read. I never read biographical books and I probably should not have started with this one. If you are an architecture buff you will love the detail. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine. Gibbons went to war over shipping rites with the Livingston’s monopoly over steamboat traffic in New York. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt was a meticulously and extensively researched biography of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt first published a book of poetry in 1955 and has since published her memoirs and fiction. Through frugality and good management he acquired a fleet of ferries and coastal sailboats. The reader can trace the development of American economic history from 1800-1875 through the life of Vanderbilt. Mammoth effort by Stiles to not only tell Vanderbilt's incredible story, but to also describe the vast economic and social changes that took place in America from 1794 - 1877. This was a fascinating look at the two lives and the era in which they lived. “The First Tycoon” by T.J. Stiles, published by Alfred A. Knopf. This is a very, very, very exhaustive and detailed tome on Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. Stiles plays it fair when it comes to Vanderbilt - showing many times that he was indeed no saint and could squash his enemies with one swift move, but also. Right now I don't even have the desire to, I admit that I'm not too comfortable with the world of high finance and economics. Good Lord, what a mother - pure id, and the Versailles pastiche would break them all. Sometimes it seemed the author just threw names out like we were supposed to know them or recall them from 50 pages ago, and like, no. I literally couldn't remember anyone. As he aged, he always chose diplomacy first, and only when repeated diplomatic efforts failed, did he resort to aggressive rate-cutting and maneuvering to subdue his rivals. This is the last book that needs to be written on Vanderbilt for many years--possibly ever. This is a story of feminism in a time of oppression, feminism out of desperation—for two people that should have been the least desperate of their time; this is an unlikely feminist story. I also felt that important physical details regarding the main charaters were left out, which left me perplexed. What follows is a lot of detail on water and rail routes and deals. As we walked through, one of the docents pointed to a rather large picture and said that is the 9th Duke of Marlborough (the family that lives there) and Consuelo Vanderbilt. She is also the founder of the Tennessee March for Black Women in STEM, an event held every fall which seeks to bring together the Tennessee community to raise awareness of the gendered racism, Black women and girls experience in STEM. Amy Osborne Vanderbilt (July 22, 1908 – December 27, 1974) was an American authority on etiquette. and both hobnobbed with the biggest names of their day in the UK. I also wish this was just about Consuelo instead of her mother. But back in his day, there was no such thing as insider trading or labor laws or level playing fields. I think it's still hampered by the fact that the subject, Cornelius Vanderbilt, just didn't do very many interesting things. Vanderbilt himself was awkward with language, and consequently neither wrote or spoke publicly much during his life, so there is no introspection in this book. T. J. Stiles’s whacking new biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt moves with force and conviction and imperious wit through the noisy life and times of … The Vanderbilt family amassed a fortune in the transportation industry, beginning with the first regular Staten Island ferry service to Manhattan and eventually progressing to steamship technology and later railroads. Aaron Ogden-hero of the Revolution- former New Jersey Governor. This well written and interesting dual biography of perhaps the Gilded Age's best remembered mother and daughter duo is a first time effort; the author has a background in independent film making but it would seem this must be her true calling. The rights to shipping had dated back to the Revolutionary times when a family controlled water way rights and continued to do so up and until the mid 19th Century. It made for a bit of a difficult read. The scholarship is astounding, highly detailed and complete. Book Reviews - Beginners: The Curious Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt » Have you read this book? It is a fascinating account of two extraordinary women who struggled to break free from the world into which they were born—a world of materialistic concerns and shallow elitism in which females were voiceless and powerless—and of their lifelong dedication to noble and dangerous causes and the battle for women's rights. Start by marking “Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age” as Want to Read: Error rating book. He was genius at business(largely transportation) and finance but he would never have achieved what he did without his intuitive, flawless understanding of water, weather and boats. I may hang in there until. There were parts I found fascinating, but other parts lost me a bit. I never read biographical books and I probably should not have started with this one. His success dates from those days. Consuelo was forced/pushed by her mother to marry the 9th Duke of Marlborough of Blenheim Palace. Frustrating because it shows how few options were available to women and how eager Consuelo was to effectively prostitute her daughter in the name of a good marriage that would add to the family's prestige. This book took me a long time to finish - I renewed my Libby loan at least twice. I may hang in there until I get to that part because I still want to understand that aspect - but all the Gilded Age society stuff is SO dull! Welcome back. One shipper spent his life attempting to break this monopoly. He demonstrated an almost surreal ability to focus on a project, determination to finish even in life threatening situations, competitiveness, creativity and the refusal to go back on his word. In the giftshop I found this book and decided to learn more about Counselo and how she ended up at Blenheim. He started his research late in 2001, and during the time he was working on it, he met and married … In that book, Hoffert focuses almost exclusively on Alva's later years,when she worked with Alice Paul of the National Woman's Party (NWP) on behalf of woman suffrage. Consuelo, in love with another man, was pressured by her status-seeking mother to give him up and instead marry England's Duke of Marlborough, who needed a wealthy wife to save his estate. And does not deserve that title s first book, but like Vanderbilt 's life, extremely.! With my love of all things regarding this time period, could really. 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