Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

(Paperback)

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Now in paperback, the #1 New York Times bestselling chronicle of the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty, from CNN anchor and journalist Anderson Cooper and historian and novelist Katherine Howe.

One of the Washington Post's Notable Works of Nonfiction

When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his fathers 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 empiresone in shipping and another in railroadsthat 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. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by the Commodore, subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakersthe seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Corneliuss grandson and namesake had builtthe family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all.

Now, the Commodores great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the familys empire, basked in the Commodores wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other.

Written with a unique insiders viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.

Reviews

Splendid. . . . haunting and beautifully written. . . . This is a terrific book. Washington Post "An incredible story." People A dramatic tale expertly told of rapacious ambition, decadent excess, and covert and overt tyranny and trauma. . . . With resplendent detail, the authors capture the gasp-eliciting extravagance of the Vanderbilt Gilded Age mansions. . . . With its intrinsic empathy and in-depth profiles of women, this is a distinctly intimate, insightful, and engrossing chronicle of an archetypal, self-consuming American dynasty. . . . Irresistible. Booklist (starred review) Marked by meticulous research and deep emotional insight, this is a memorable chronicle of American royalty. Publishers Weekly A remarkably frank and tender undertaking. The New York Times on The Rainbow Comes and Goes "Meaningful, revealing." The Wall Street JournalonThe Rainbow Comes and Goes Fascinating, forthright, philosophical, and inspiring, these mother-and-son musings on family, life, death, forgiveness, fame, and perseverance are at once uniquely personal and deeply human. Booklist (starred review)onThe Rainbow Comes and Goes Cooper is a storyteller with plenty of heart. . . . A smart, soulful page-turner. . . . Strong stuff, and in Coopers hands, well told. People on Dispatches from the Edge His vignettes from the worlds horrorscapes rise above the swagger of many journalistic memoirs because Cooper writes with competence as well as feeling. . . . Intriguing. Washington Post Book WorldonDispatches from the Edge

Author Bio

Anderson Cooper joined CNN in 2001 and has anchored his own program, Anderson Cooper 360, since March 2003. That show will now become the prime evening news program, replacing News Night with Aaron Brown. He had previously served as a correspondent for ABC News and was a foreign correspondent for Channel One News. Cooper has won several awards for his work, including a National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage and an Emmy Award for his contribution to ABCs coverage of Princess Dianas funeral.