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| Cornelius ("the Commodore") Vanderbilt |
Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
1989
4/5 stars
This is a nonfiction account of the rise and decline of the famous Vanderbilt family. In 1887, Cornelius Vanderbilt had made himself the richest man in the world. Within fifty years of his death, however, his fortune no longer remained. The author, a descendant of Cornelius, follows the Vanderbilt family from Cornelius' humble start, through the family's heyday, and finishes by showing how the Vanderbilts lived by the time of publication.
This is a generally well-written and completely engaging family biography, full of anecdotes, information on corresponding historical events, and even brief biographies of some of the society people who influenced the Vanderbilts. The biographies of some of the family members are not as detailed as I would have liked, but overall, it was enlightening, interesting, and a fascinating read for those who are interested in America's Gilded Age.
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