
Astor
The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
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Narrated by:
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Anderson Cooper
About this listen
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,compelling 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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Madeleine Talmage Force is just 17 when she attracts the attention of John Jacob "Jack" Astor. Jack's mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York's most formidable socialite. Despite their 29-year age difference and the scandal of Jack's recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love. On their honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace away from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time - and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner.
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I did not want this to end ...
- By Georgia on 10-11-21
By: Shana Abe
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The Last Castle
- The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Denise Kiernan
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York's best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness.
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Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
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The Astors
- The History and Legacy of One of the World’s Wealthiest Families
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Mark Norman
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Astor surname, one of New York’s most important family names for over a century, is synonymous with American aristocracy, a term that defies simple definition. Unlike Britain, where the term aristocrat had a definite meaning, the New York aristocracy was “at best a metaphor for high social status or prestige in a nation which had unequivocally rejected the mechanisms needed to create and sustain an aristocracy on the European model.”
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Review this Astor book……
- By B. Duska on 02-11-22
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Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- By: Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.
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The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
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The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
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Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
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The Last Mrs. Astor
- A New York Story
- By: Frances Kiernan
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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This biography, based on firsthand knowledge and interviews with Mrs. Astor's friends and the heads of New York's great cultural institutions, gives us back the woman so loved and admired. At the age of fifty-one, Brooke Astor wedded the notoriously ill-tempered Vincent Astor, who died in 1959.
By: Frances Kiernan
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Diamonds and Deadlines
- A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age
- By: Betsy Prioleau
- Narrated by: Beth Hicks
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Among the fabled tycoons of the Gilded Age—Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt—is a forgotten figure: Mrs. Frank Leslie. For twenty years she ran the country’s largest publishing company, Frank Leslie Publishing, which chronicled postbellum America in dozens of weeklies and monthlies. A pioneer in an all-male industry, she made a fortune and became a national celebrity and tastemaker in the process. Diamonds and Deadlines reveals the unknown, sensational life of the brilliant and brazen “empress of journalism”.
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Wonderful biography of forgotten gilded age publishing icon
- By Amazon Customer on 03-24-24
By: Betsy Prioleau
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The Warburgs
- The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 35 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Bankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, German American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.
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The Warburg's Dynamic Family History
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Ron Chernow
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The Cartiers
- The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire
- By: Francesca Cartier Brickell
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents.
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Wonderful Experience to Listen to This Story
- By BB on 01-12-20
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Deliberate Cruelty
- Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century
- By: Roseanne Montillo
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ann Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale than Truman Capote.
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An interesting true crime story buried in here
- By Quinn on 11-11-22
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American Duchess
- A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “Wedding of the Century” to the duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold”.
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Surprisingly interesting life
- By labradoodler on 07-24-19
By: Karen Harper
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Possessed
- The Life of Joan Crawford
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author Donald Spoto has brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous Hollywood stars and entertainment icons. In Possessed, his subject is the inimitable Joan Crawford, one of the most electrifying divas of the Golden Age of American film. A more thorough, revealing, and sympathetic portrait of the often maligned movie star - most notably lambasted, perhaps, in the scandalous best seller, Mommie Dearest - Possessed is a fascinating study of the real Joan Crawford, a remarkable actress, businesswoman, mother, and lover.
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Waste of money
- By bkw74 on 07-19-21
By: Donald Spoto
What listeners say about Astor
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- Cathy
- 09-27-23
Not a favorite
I enjoyed the history of New York, wages jobs, people and historical facts, the Astors left me disappointed and I found their history rather boring.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-26-23
Loved it
Great writing, great voice performance. The structure is atypical but the authors do an excellent job in weaving theme with story. I couldn’t stop listening.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Brad
- 10-27-23
Incredible
The depth of American history is astounding. Will not be surprised if Anderson is asked to write a screenplay for a movie or series based on this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- RosieLee38
- 09-26-23
Interesting
I love when Anderson Cooper narrates! He is so easy to understand and keeps his audience engaged.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Holly & TJ
- 10-18-23
As great as expected!
Much like Anderson Cooper’s last book, I wanted to know more about the Astors as I had the Vanderbilts. Anderson Cooper is a great narrator. He is the reason I got the audiobook vice the actual hardcover. I hope there will be more Guilded Age books coming from the written hand of Anderson Cooper.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-21-23
Great book!
Very well written and such a great story telling! I love reading about these older wealthy families and the way they lived. Anderson is a great story teller as the narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Julia
- 09-25-23
Fabulous
Truly, another brilliant gem! I appreciate the duos commitment to quality, compelling, context-driven storytelling. A fabulous listen. So not pass this by…
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- Kim H
- 10-06-23
Part history book, part adventure story
Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe did a remarkable job of researching the Astor family for this book. The details they were able to find on this family are amazing. It’s easy to picture yourself on the ship to Astoria or in Mrs. Astor’s ballroom.
I did not like this family for various reasons but it was fascinating to read about their rise and fall. Your opinion may be different. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy history.
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- LisaG
- 10-06-23
Astor
this was well written and well read. I really enjoy learning about the Astors and the Vanderbilts. I also like the way the chapters were by years. the only bad thing I will say is if you're an animal lover, you may want to fast forward over how they dealt with the beaver pelts back in the day. other than that it was a fantastic book
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- Christine
- 10-24-23
Another Anderson Masterpiece
Right from the start Anderson’s narration draws you in. I have come to realize, if history lessons in school had been taught with the passion that Anderson has for history, I may have payed attention! I have listened to every book he has written and anxiously wait for more. Americas, history and mystery is so much more than what was in our textbooks. I truly recommend this for anybody who walks through New York City, and wonders about the architecture and the opulence of what they are seeing as we stroll through them. Many go to places like the Plaza Hotel to take that photograph to post on Instagram but little take the time to learn the history behind many of these historical sites.
Bravo Anderson and thank you for sharing the mystery of early wealth and lifestyle!
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