
Fortune's Children
The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
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Narrated by:
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Patrick Lawlor
About this listen
Vanderbilt: The very name is synonymous with the Gilded Age. The family patriarch, "the Commodore," built a fortune that made him the world's richest man by 1877. Yet less than fifty years after his death, no Vanderbilt was counted among the world's richest people. 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.
©1989 Arthur T. Vanderbilt II (P)2014 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Empress Alexandra Romanov – the last empress of Russia, wife of Tsar Nicholas II, and now a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church – chose Countess Sophie Buxhoeveden, one of her ladies-in-waiting, to be her authorized biographer, opening up to her about her closest relationships and giving her access to copies of her private correspondence. Additionally, as a lady-in-waiting, Countess Buxhoeveden attended on the Empress for much of the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, only leaving her side when the Imperial Family was removed to Tobolsk after the Tsar’s abdication in 1917. Thereafter, she ...
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Learn from history…
- By Aytuna Tosunoglu on 05-19-25
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Madness Under the Royal Palms
- Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach
- By: Laurence Leamer
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In March 1999, a Palm Beach matron and her socially ambitious husband invited the elite of the island for a dinner dance honoring Prince Edward. Among those dancing to the string orchestra that evening would be those accused of murder and spousal abuse, and others who would suffer fates both unseemly and unspeakable. Among the outer circle there would be murders, suicides, and fatal fires.
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Just what I've been waiting for
- By kk on 09-29-09
By: Laurence Leamer
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Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
- The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World
- By: Hugh Brewster
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Titanic has often been called "An exquisite microcosm of the Edwardian era", but until now, her story has not been presented as such. In Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage, historian Hugh Brewster seamlessly interweaves personal narratives of the lost liner's most fascinating people with a haunting account of the fateful maiden crossing. Employing scrupulous research, he accurately depicts the ship's brief life and tragic denouement and presents compelling, memorable portraits of her most notable passengers.
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Lots of interesting details
- By Rachel on 10-16-18
By: Hugh Brewster
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The Little Princesses
- The Story of the Queen's Childhood by Her Nanny, Marion Crawford
- By: Marion Crawford, Jennie Bond - foreword
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Originally published in 1950, The Little Princesses was the first account of British Royal life inside Buckingham Palace as revealed by Marion Crawford, who served as governess to princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
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The Beginnig of My Interest on the Royal Family
- By A. Bauza Higuera on 12-30-22
By: Marion Crawford, and others
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Vanderbilt
- The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal.
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Interesting Approach to a Well Known History
- By HistoryNerd on 09-24-21
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
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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 Second Mrs. Astor
- By: Shana Abe
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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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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To Marry an English Lord
- By: Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles - just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details-plus quotes and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette - To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.
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Not Great on Audio
- By Lynne on 03-10-16
By: Gail MacColl, and others
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American Heiresses of the Gilded Age
- By: Melissa Ziobro, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Melissa Ziobro
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
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Welcome to the era of true marriages of convenience. Discover the reality of trading someone’s hand in marriage, such as an American heiress, in exchange for money, power, or political clout through compelling history lectures. Showcased in novels such as Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and in present day pop culture through works like Downtown Abbey, the Gilded Age was an era of contradictions. Life on both sides of the Atlantic was grimy and glamorous, prosperous and impoverished, traditional and revolutionary.
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Repetitive and shallow
- By Kg on 04-06-20
By: Melissa Ziobro, and others
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Jennie
- The Life of the American Beauty Who Became the Toast—and Scandal—of Two Continents, Ruled an Age and Raised a Son—Winston Churchill—Who Shaped History
- By: Ralph G. Martin
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 26 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Sourcebooks is bringing the internationally acclaimed New York Times bestseller back for a new generation of listeners. Jennie Churchill was not merely Winston’s mother. She was the most captivating and desired woman of her age. Originally from Brooklyn, Jennie became the reigning queen of British society. Beautiful and defiant, she lived with an honesty that made her the talk of two continents.
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Excellent
- By appreciative reader on 02-13-23
By: Ralph G. Martin
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A Very Private Woman
- The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer
- By: Nina Burleigh
- Narrated by: Siiri Scott
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1964, Mary Pinchot Meyer, the beautiful, rebellious, and intelligent ex-wife of a top CIA official, was killed on a quiet Georgetown towpath near her home. Mary Meyer was a secret mistress of President John F. Kennedy, whom she had known since private school days, and after her death, reports that she had kept a diary set off a tense search by her brother-in-law, newsman Ben Bradlee, and CIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton. But the only suspect in her murder was acquitted, and today her life and death are still a source of intense speculation.
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Easier to listen to than to read
- By Cheaton on 06-05-20
By: Nina Burleigh
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Long Island’s Vanished Heiress
- The Unsolved Alice Parsons Kidnapping
- By: Steven C. Drielak
- Narrated by: Matt Weisgerber
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island's wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months.
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Interesting story
- By L Mahoney on 10-21-23
A vast amount of information
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Excellent.
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Narrator needs to learn how to pronounce...
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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.
Very Interesting
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This was a fascinating account of the lives of Commodore Vanderbilt 's family and how they spent the fortune till nothing hardly was left. Fudes, drama and many larger than life personalities (both male and female, don't underestimate the women) set the bar for an age of wealth some royal families couldn't match. Only a few men were able to handle the family business, the rest spent beyond their means. Tragedy often upset the best laid plans. One of the grandsons never held a job, deserted his wife and child and did nothing but gamble and spend his fortune away. The lavish excess were ridiculous at times and few knew how to save. All the hard work and sage advice the Commodore have was essentially ignored. In less than 100 years, no member of the family was a millionaire. This book was written by a relative and stops before the success of Gloria Vanderbilt, the famed designer and her son newsman Anderson Cooper. I would've loved to read her story. Heartbreaking and at times difficult to listen to, this book pulls no punches.
I read this book using immersion reading while listening to the audiobook. Patrick Lawlor's narration fit the material. An excellent read and a lesson in greed and excess.
How Fortune’s Children Failed
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If you are interested in family money?
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Good but left a lot out
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Would you listen to Fortune's Children again? Why?
Really enjoyed hearing about the making and losing of a great American fortune. Interesting and well-researched.Which character – as performed by Patrick Lawlor – was your favorite?
Alva Vandeebilt Belmont.Enjoyable
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Excellent and Humorous History
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Wealth without charity
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