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Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
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Fortune's Children
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3 out of 5 stars
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Publisher's summary
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.
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 419
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 375
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 376
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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3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Great on Audio
- By Lynne on 03-10-16
By: Gail MacColl, and others
-
Royal Sisters
- Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret
- By: Anne Edwards
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
In Royal Sisters, Anne Edwards, author of the best-selling Vivien Leigh: A Biography and Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor, has written the first dual biography of Elizabeth, the princess who was to become Queen, and her younger sister, Margaret, who was to be her subject. From birth to maturity, they were the stuff of which dreams are made.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Where's The Rest?
- By Simone on 12-19-17
By: Anne Edwards
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 939
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 832
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 828
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
-
Those Wild Wyndhams
- Three Sisters at the Heart of Power
- By: Claudia Renton
- Narrated by: Claudia Renton
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
They were confidantes to British prime ministers, poets, writers, and artists, their lives entwined with the most celebrated and scandalous figures of the day, from Oscar Wilde to Henry James. They were the lovers of great men - or men of great prominence... They lived in a world of luxurious excess, a world of splendor at 44 Belgrave Square and later at the even more vast Clouds, the exquisite Wiltshire house on 4,000 acres, the "house of the age", designed in 1876 by the visionary architect Philip Webb - the model for Henry James' The Spoils of Poynton.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
SLOW START BUT STICK WITH THIS ONE
- By The Louligan on 01-22-19
By: Claudia Renton
-
The Riviera Set
- Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden World of High Society
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Jill Rolls
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped, and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of 40 years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Riviera Set
- By Lois Kelly on 05-04-18
By: Mary S. Lovell
-
Empty Mansions
- The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
- By: Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,430
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,235
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,238
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly 60 years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the 19th century with a 21st-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating, But Know This...
- By Karen K on 04-08-15
By: Bill Dedman, and others
-
The Glitter and the Gold
- The American Duchess - In Her Own Words
- By: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 137
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Facinating Story- Terrible reading
- By Ashley D on 03-27-14
-
Bunny Mellon
- The Life of an American Style Legend
- By: Meryl Gordon
- Narrated by: Vanessa Cortland
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 436
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 383
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 383
A new biography of Bunny Mellon, the style icon and American aristocrat who designed the White House Rose Garden for her friend JFK and served as a living witness to 20th century American history, operating in the high-level arenas of politics, diplomacy, art, and fashion.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Well written bio.
- By Minda Leah Kahn on 09-01-18
By: Meryl Gordon
-
Matriarch
- Queen Mary and the House of Windsor
- By: Anne Edwards
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,334
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,090
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,087
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow! Did not want this to end!
- By Susan Nall Sheehan on 07-16-17
By: Anne Edwards
-
World’s End
- The Lanny Budd Novels, Book 1
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
Lanning “Lanny” Budd spends his first 13 years in Europe, living at the center of his mother’s glamourous circle of friends on the French Riviera. In 1913, he enters a prestigious Swiss boarding school and befriends Rick, an English boy, and Kurt, a German. The three schoolmates are privileged, happy, and precocious - but their world is about to come to an abrupt and violent end. When the gathering storm clouds of war finally burst, raining chaos and death over the continent, Lanny must put the innocence of youth behind him.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
didn't finish
- By Bird Miller on 05-08-22
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Wait for Me!
- Memoirs
- By: Deborah Mitford Duchess of Devonshire
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood that includes the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
The last of the Mitford Sisters
- By Irene on 01-11-11
-
Lady Bird
- A Biography of Mrs. Johnson
- By: Jan Jarboe Russell
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
A revealing biography of Lady Bird Johnson with startling new insights into her marriage to Lyndon Baines Johnson and her unexpectedly strong impact on his presidency. Long obscured by her husband's shadow, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson emerges in this first comprehensive biography as a figure of surprising influence and the centering force for LBJ, a man who suffered from extreme mood swings and desperately needed someone to help control his darker impulses.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Do not waste an audible credit
- By Sandra B. on 10-15-23
-
Black Diamonds
- The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England
- By: Catherine Bailey
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
When the sixth Earl Fitzwilliam died in 1902, he left behind the second largest estate in 20th-century England, valued at more than three billion dollars in today's money - a lifeline to the tens of thousands of people who worked either in the family's coal mines or on their expansive estate. The earl also left behind four sons, and the family line seemed assured. But was it?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Could use a good editor...
- By Phyllis on 04-30-18
By: Catherine Bailey
-
America's Queen
- The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- By: Sarah Bradford
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Using remarkable new sources, Sarah Bradford has written a timely celebration of a life that was more private than commonly supposed. Revealing new testimony from many of the couple's friends shows the complexities of this apparently very public relationship and of her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis. Here is the private Jackie - neglected wife, vigilant mother, and working widow - whose contradictory and fascinating nature is illuminated by all that Bradford has discovered.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
American Royalty
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-16
By: Sarah Bradford
-
Franklin and Lucy
- President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life
- By: Joseph E. Persico
- Narrated by: Ted Barker
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest figure of the 20th century. While FDR's official circle was predominantly male, it was his relationships with women - particularly with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd - that most vividly bring to light the human being beneath this towering statesman.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Franklin and Lucy
- By Connie's on 03-06-09
-
Wallis in Love
- The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Molly Parker Myers
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 154
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 131
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 131
For fans of the Netflix series The Crown and from the author of the New York Times best seller 17 Carnations comes a captivating biography of Wallis Simpson, the notorious woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This one is being returned
- By Rita T on 02-15-18
By: Andrew Morton
-
The Royals
- By: Kitty Kelley
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 484
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 411
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
They are the most chronicled family on the face of the globe. Their every move attracts headlines. Scores of books have tried and failed to penetrate the royal facade. Now Kitty Kelley has gone behind palace walls to provide the first three-dimensional, comprehensive, and evenhanded portrait of the men and women who make up the British Royal family.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A titillating and delightful insight....
- By SIGHLE on 02-12-16
By: Kitty Kelley
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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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 670
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 572
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 569
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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5 out of 5 stars
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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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Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
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.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Too much fluff
- By JESSICA BAUER on 09-02-22
By: Laura Thompson
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 939
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 832
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 828
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
-
The Glitter and the Gold
- The American Duchess - In Her Own Words
- By: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 137
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Facinating Story- Terrible reading
- By Ashley D on 03-27-14
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,515
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,786
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,759
New York Times best-selling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times best-selling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty - his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting Approach to a Well Known History
- By HistoryNerd on 09-24-21
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
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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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 670
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 572
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 569
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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5 out of 5 stars
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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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Heiresses
- The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Laura Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Too much fluff
- By JESSICA BAUER on 09-02-22
By: Laura Thompson
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 939
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 832
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 828
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
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Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
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The Glitter and the Gold
- The American Duchess - In Her Own Words
- By: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Story4 out of 5 stars 137
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.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Facinating Story- Terrible reading
- By Ashley D on 03-27-14
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,515
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,786
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,759
New York Times best-selling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times best-selling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty - his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts.
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4 out of 5 stars
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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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Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
-
The Phantom of Fifth Avenue
- The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark
- By: Meryl Gordon
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 322
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 291
Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. Her father, William Andrews Clark, was the second richest man in America. Huguette attended the coronation of King George V. And at 22, with a personal fortune of $50 million, she married a Princeton man and childhood friend. Two-years later the couple divorced. After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society. What happened to Huguette that turned a vivacious, young socialite into a recluse?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The OTHER Huguette Clark Book
- By Teadrinker on 03-24-15
By: Meryl Gordon
-
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
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 22
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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3 out of 5 stars
-
Review this Astor book……
- By B. Duska on 02-11-22
-
Empty Mansions
- The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
- By: Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,430
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,235
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,238
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly 60 years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the 19th century with a 21st-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating, But Know This...
- By Karen K on 04-08-15
By: Bill Dedman, and others
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 887
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 796
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 787
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully Written
- By Amazon Customer on 11-29-20
By: Bryn Turnbull
-
A Well-Behaved Woman
- A Novel of the Vanderbilts
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 731
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 641
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 640
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.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Don’t get me wrong...
- By carmen on 03-09-19
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The Sphinx
- The Life of Gladys Deacon - Duchess of Marlborough
- By: Hugo Vickers
- Narrated by: Hugo Vickers
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14
One of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her time, Gladys Deacon dazzled as much as she puzzled the glittering social circles in which she moved. Born in Paris to American parents in 1881, she suffered a traumatic childhood after her father shot her mother's lover dead. Educated in America, she returned to Europe, where she captivated and inspired some of the greatest literary and artistic names of the Belle Époque.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Lovely and compelling.
- By Gudrun D Whitehead on 03-25-20
By: Hugo Vickers
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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
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,131
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 939
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Story4 out of 5 stars 940
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.
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4 out of 5 stars
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American princess
- By ZOE R on 05-12-18
By: Annejet van der Zijl, and others
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 588
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 519
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 516
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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4 out of 5 stars
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Surprisingly interesting life
- By labradoodler on 07-24-19
By: Karen Harper
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The Vanderbilts
- By: Jerry E. Patterson
- Narrated by: Ray Childs
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 514
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 443
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Story4 out of 5 stars 440
Cornelius Vanderbilt parlayed a $100.00 investment into the largest private transportation company in the world while creating an American Dynasty in New York, Newport, Vermont, and Asheville, North Carolina. This history of his family and their lush, opulent lifestyle is filled with juicy stories and fun tidbits about their lives in the Gilded Era.
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2 out of 5 stars
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It only brushes the cold marble surface
- By Tracy on 12-03-13
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,513
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,019
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,990
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.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed the early parts
- By Dedrick on 07-06-16
By: Anderson Cooper
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The First Tycoon
- The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
- By: T.J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 28 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,420
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,169
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,159
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism. Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great! If you can get through it...
- By john on 08-08-10
By: T.J. Stiles
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The Richest Woman in America
- Hetty Green in the Gilded Age
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green. At the time of her death in 1916, she was worth at least 100 million dollars, equal to more than 2 billion dollars today. A strong believer in women being financially independent, she offered valuable lessons for the present times. Abandoned at birth by her neurotic mother, scorned by her misogynist father, Hetty set out as a child to prove her value. Following the simple rules of her wealthy Quaker father, she successfully invested her money and along the way proved to herself that she was wealthy and therefore worthy.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Horrible Narrator
- By Christina M. Kruse on 06-10-15
By: Janet Wallach
What listeners say about Fortune's Children
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gypsi
- 10-31-23
Very Interesting
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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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Admiralu
- 03-08-20
How Fortune’s Children Failed
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- G
- 10-18-15
If you are interested in family money?
Really interesting to see how this family made money. And one observation. "It is easy to make money. But not easy to hang o to money". The family managed to squander a fortune ...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- IamKatie
- 05-30-18
A vast amount of information
Loved it. A sad ending of an era of history. It would have been exciting in some aspects to witness.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe Culley
- 01-29-23
Excellent.
A really well written, entertaining ,and informative read!! I find so many books on this time period and subject can get a bit boring-not this one!! And, it really covers the family generations.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. Lancaster
- 10-21-22
Narrator needs to learn how to pronounce...
...Blenheim Palace! Since a Vanderbilt marries a Duke of Marlborough, and goes to live in Blenheim Palace, it is mentioned many many times. Dear Narrator: It is pronounced BLEN-um. That's all. Blen...um. Not Blen-HYME. ACK! Other than that, the story was very interesting - far more interesting than I already thought it would be.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Margot
- 11-02-16
Great listen for a road trip.
Wish Patrick Lawlor would study pronunciation before narrating. "Blen-hyme"?? Like fingernails on a chalkboard! Otherwise an interesting story about the Gilded Age and what followed.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Marckush
- 07-04-17
Beautifully read fascinating topic
In less skilled hands the multitude of voices and accents Mr. Lawlor assumes would come off as embarrassing- after all, he reads the words of everything from a robber Barron misanthrope to a 10 year old heiress, and her nanny to boot! Lawlor does a fine job and his beautiful consistency lends a new dimension to a sense topic.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cecilia Barther
- 03-20-18
So sad
Would you listen to Fortune's Children again? Why?
Yes, so interesting listening to how they made, and lost, their money.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Fortune's Children?
Commodore Vanderbilt seemed an awful person yet a brilliant business man
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I found it interesting the Vanderbilts seemed to enjoy their money when they had it but somehow knew it wasn't going to last forever, yet, they were never conservative!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Courtney C.
- 10-13-20
A wonderful book with somewhat painful narrator
I absolutely loved the book so I chugged along through somewhat clumsy narration at times. A lot of French words were mispronounced and other words here and there but overall, he did a wonderful job on Commodore Vanderbilt in the beginning and the Gilded Age characters.
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