
The Glitter and the Gold
The American Duchess - In Her Own Words
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $15.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Coleen Marlo
About this listen
Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace.
The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era. An unsnobbish, but often amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs at Blenheim Palace, she is also a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties, and major state occasions she attended or hosted. Here are her encounters with every important figure of the day - from Queen Victoria, Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas, Prince Metternich, and the young Winston Churchill.
This intimate, richly enjoyable memoir is a wonderfully revealing portrait of a golden age.
©1953 Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (P)2012 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.
- By Barbara W. on 09-23-23
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
-
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
-
A Well-Behaved Woman
- A Novel of the Vanderbilts
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alva Smith, her Southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America’s great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Alva defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement. In A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman.
-
-
Don’t get me wrong...
- By carmen on 03-09-19
-
Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heiresses: Surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.
-
-
tough listen and tough to keep track
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-23
By: Laura Thompson
-
American Duchess
- A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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”.
-
-
Surprisingly interesting life
- By labradoodler on 07-24-19
By: Karen Harper
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.
- By Barbara W. on 09-23-23
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
-
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
-
A Well-Behaved Woman
- A Novel of the Vanderbilts
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alva Smith, her Southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America’s great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Alva defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement. In A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman.
-
-
Don’t get me wrong...
- By carmen on 03-09-19
-
Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heiresses: Surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.
-
-
tough listen and tough to keep track
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-23
By: Laura Thompson
-
American Duchess
- A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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”.
-
-
Surprisingly interesting life
- By labradoodler on 07-24-19
By: Karen Harper
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Interesting Approach to a Well Known History
- By HistoryNerd on 09-24-21
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
The Social Graces
- By: Renée Rosen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1876. In the glittering world of Manhattan's upper crust, women are valued by their pedigree, dowry, and, most importantly, connections. They have few rights and even less independence - what they do have is society. The more celebrated the hostess, the more powerful the woman. And none is more powerful than Caroline Astor - the Mrs. Astor.
-
-
Disappointing Effort
- By HistoryNerd on 05-11-21
By: Renée Rosen
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
-
An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew
- By: Annejet van der Zijl, Michele Hutchison - translator
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born to a pioneering family in Upstate New York in the late 1800s, Allene Tew was beautiful, impetuous, and frustrated by the confines of her small hometown. At eighteen, she met Tod Hostetter at a local dance, having no idea that the mercurial charmer she would impulsively wed was heir to one of the wealthiest families in America. But when he died twelve years later, Allene packed her bags for New York City. Never once did she look back.
-
-
American princess
- By ZOE R on 05-12-18
By: Annejet van der Zijl, and others
-
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
- A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss
- By: Anderson Cooper
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though Anderson Cooper has always considered himself close to his mother, his intensely busy career as a journalist for CNN and CBS affords him little time to spend with her. After she suffers a brief but serious illness at the age of ninety-one, they resolve to change their relationship by beginning a yearlong conversation unlike any they have ever had before. The result is a correspondence of surprising honesty and depth in which they discuss their lives, the things that matter to them, and what they still want to learn about each other.
-
-
Enjoyed the early parts
- By Dedrick on 07-06-16
By: Anderson Cooper
-
Rose
- My Life in Service to Lady Astor
- By: Rosina Harrison
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
-
-
AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
-
The Woman Before Wallis
- A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
- By: Bryn Turnbull
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1925, Thelma Morgan arrives at the Paris Ritz still stinging from the heartache and humiliation of her failed marriage. Her twin sister, Gloria, newly and blissfully wedded to Reginald Vanderbilt and with a baby in tow, has invited her to spend the summer - and though romance is the last thing on Thelma’s mind, she can’t deny that Reggie’s friend Duke Furness is as charming and dapper as he is keen to win her affection.
-
-
Beautifully Written
- By Amazon Customer on 11-29-20
By: Bryn Turnbull
-
Matriarch
- Queen Mary and the House of Windsor
- By: Anne Edwards
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.
-
-
Wow! Did not want this to end!
- By Susan Nall Sheehan on 07-16-17
By: Anne Edwards
-
The Second Mrs. Astor
- By: Shana Abe
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
I did not want this to end ...
- By Georgia on 10-11-21
By: Shana Abe
-
That Churchill Woman
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Barron
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Paris Wife meets PBS’s Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of history’s most remarkable women: Winston Churchill’s scandalous American mother, Jennie Jerome.
-
-
Excellent Entertaining Historical Romance Novel
- By Nicole on 07-24-19
By: Stephanie Barron
-
The Handmaid's Tale
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Claire Danes
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all-controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred is a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name.
-
-
My Top Pick for 2012
- By Em on 11-30-12
By: Margaret Atwood
Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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”.
-
-
Wonderful biography of forgotten gilded age publishing icon
- By Amazon Customer on 03-24-24
By: Betsy Prioleau
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
-
To Marry an English Lord
- By: Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Not Great on Audio
- By Lynne on 03-10-16
By: Gail MacColl, and others
-
Mrs. Vanderbilt
- Second Edition
- By: Ari Newman
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Step back into the Gilded Age and immerse yourself in the captivating story of the Vanderbilt family in the highly anticipated Second Edition of Mrs. Vanderbilt. This updated edition delves deeper into the lives of three young and beautiful heiresses as they navigate the complexities of love, birthright, and the expectations placed upon them by their families. After the death of Cornelius (Commodire) Vanderbilt, a fierce rivalry unfolded between Alva Vanderbilt and Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known as Mrs. Astor. Determined to secure their place in high society, the Vanderbilts, led by ...
-
-
Completely disjointed and not smooth
- By Betsy on 05-16-25
By: Ari Newman
-
Serving Victoria
- Life in the Royal Household
- By: Kate Hubbard
- Narrated by: Kate Hubbard
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During her 63-year reign, Queen Victoria gathered around herself a household dedicated to her service. For some, royal employment was the defining experience of their lives; for others it came as an unwelcome duty or as a prelude to greater things. Serving Victoria follows the lives of six members of her household, from the governess to the royal children, from her maid of honor to her chaplain and her personal physician.
-
-
How petty and crazy the Queen was
- By Kimberly on 04-26-25
By: Kate Hubbard
-
Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heiresses: Surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.
-
-
tough listen and tough to keep track
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-23
By: Laura Thompson
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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”.
-
-
Wonderful biography of forgotten gilded age publishing icon
- By Amazon Customer on 03-24-24
By: Betsy Prioleau
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
-
To Marry an English Lord
- By: Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Not Great on Audio
- By Lynne on 03-10-16
By: Gail MacColl, and others
-
Mrs. Vanderbilt
- Second Edition
- By: Ari Newman
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Step back into the Gilded Age and immerse yourself in the captivating story of the Vanderbilt family in the highly anticipated Second Edition of Mrs. Vanderbilt. This updated edition delves deeper into the lives of three young and beautiful heiresses as they navigate the complexities of love, birthright, and the expectations placed upon them by their families. After the death of Cornelius (Commodire) Vanderbilt, a fierce rivalry unfolded between Alva Vanderbilt and Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known as Mrs. Astor. Determined to secure their place in high society, the Vanderbilts, led by ...
-
-
Completely disjointed and not smooth
- By Betsy on 05-16-25
By: Ari Newman
-
Serving Victoria
- Life in the Royal Household
- By: Kate Hubbard
- Narrated by: Kate Hubbard
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During her 63-year reign, Queen Victoria gathered around herself a household dedicated to her service. For some, royal employment was the defining experience of their lives; for others it came as an unwelcome duty or as a prelude to greater things. Serving Victoria follows the lives of six members of her household, from the governess to the royal children, from her maid of honor to her chaplain and her personal physician.
-
-
How petty and crazy the Queen was
- By Kimberly on 04-26-25
By: Kate Hubbard
-
Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heiresses: Surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.
-
-
tough listen and tough to keep track
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-23
By: Laura Thompson
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Lots of interesting details
- By Rachel on 10-16-18
By: Hugh Brewster
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.
- By Barbara W. on 09-23-23
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Easier to listen to than to read
- By Cheaton on 06-05-20
By: Nina Burleigh
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Just what I've been waiting for
- By kk on 09-29-09
By: Laurence Leamer
-
The Tragic Empress
- The Authorized Biography of Alexandra Romanov
- By: Sophie Buxhoeveden
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 ...
-
-
Learn from history…
- By Aytuna Tosunoglu on 05-19-25
-
Unabashed Women
- The Fascinating Biographies of Bad Girls, Seductresses, Rebels and One-of-a-Kind Women
- By: Marlene Wagman-Geller
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amazing women with a story to tell. Join Mae West as she shakes up the entertainment industry with her wit and wisdom or create colorful art pieces with Yayoi Kusama that are larger than life itself. These women in history defied the expectations of conventional society to live the lives they chose, regardless of what others thought.
-
-
SO FUN!
- By AliKay on 05-25-25
-
Possessed
- The Life of Joan Crawford
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Waste of money
- By bkw74 on 07-19-21
By: Donald Spoto
-
The Second Mrs. Astor
- By: Shana Abe
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
I did not want this to end ...
- By Georgia on 10-11-21
By: Shana Abe
-
American Duchess
- A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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”.
-
-
Surprisingly interesting life
- By labradoodler on 07-24-19
By: Karen Harper
-
The Lost Queen
- The Life & Tragedy of the Prince Regent's Daughter
- By: Anne M. Stott
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the only child of the Prince Regent and Caroline of Brunswick, Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817) was the heiress presumptive to the throne. Her parents' marriage had already broken up by the time she was born. She had a difficult childhood and a turbulent adolescence, but she was popular with the public, who looked to her to restore the good name of the monarchy.
-
-
excellent
- By meganajjcec on 10-12-20
By: Anne M. Stott
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Interesting Approach to a Well Known History
- By HistoryNerd on 09-24-21
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
The book was interesting. It was a "surface" autobiography, There was not much depth to it. It was more along the lines of a fluff magazine story. The narrator spoke so quickly in so very many places I repeatedly had to replay sections of the story to try to figure out what she was saying. I would like to have known more about her life after she returned to the United States.What didn’t you like about Coleen Marlo’s performance?
She read as though she was going to run out of time to get the whole story read.If this book were a movie would you go see it?
YesSpeed reading
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved listening to this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
interesting history
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The reader- ugh
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What made the experience of listening to The Glitter and the Gold the most enjoyable?
Very enjoyable, especially if you are familiar with the public figures of the Edwardian period. Wonderful descriptions of the upper class life style of the time.Would you be willing to try another one of Coleen Marlo’s performances?
Not unless I was very eager to listen to the book, which in this case, I was. She was obviously trying to affect a "posh" American accent and rightly so. However, her constant mispronunciations in her reading made me gnash my teeth!Entertaining w/ very distracting mispronunciation
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Genuinely one of my favorites
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bad narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
That said, if you're interested in Consuelo Vanderbilt (The American Duchess) than this is required reading. There's another novel based on her on Audible that rips word for word who segments of this book, and if the autobiography is to be believed distorts who sections of the woman's story, placing way more emphasis on her love life than her achievements. In fact that book gives the impression of a kind of stupid if well meaning woman, while this one shows how accomplished and well read she was.
Her Autobiography, in her own words
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating story, poorly narrated
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
love the personal touch to history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.