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The Grandees
- America's Sephardic Elite
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
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The Grandees
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Publisher's summary
The New World's earliest Jewish immigrants and their unique, little-known history: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Life at the Dakota.
In 1654, twenty-three Jewish families arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) aboard a French privateer. They were the Sephardim, members of a proud orthodox sect that had served as royal advisors and honored professionals under Moorish rule in Spain and Portugal but were then exiled from their homeland by intolerant monarchs. A small, closed, and intensely private community, the Sephardim soon established themselves as businessmen and financiers, earning great wealth. They became powerful forces in society, with some, like banker Haym Salomon, even providing financial support to George Washington's army during the American Revolution.
Yet despite its major role in the birth and growth of America, this extraordinary group has remained virtually impenetrable and unknowable to outsiders. From author of "Our Crowd", Stephen Birmingham, The Grandees delves into the lives of the Sephardim and their historic accomplishments, illuminating the insulated world of these early Americans. Birmingham reveals how these families, with descendants including poet Emma Lazarus, Barnard College founder Annie Nathan Meyer, and Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, influenced - and continue to influence - American society.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jimmy Rosen
- 12-27-21
Amazing American History - Jews Made a Profound Impact
So who put Jacob Astor on the road to his riches?
Who help finance the Revolutionary War?
And what about Admiral Uriah Levy? He was our American “Dreyfus Affair”. Just beyond belief. But it happened.
For Jews and everybody else, listen to this book. You will love it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- trish carpico
- 04-26-22
Interesting historical account
The narration was a little dry. A compelling history of Judaism in the US. I did not know that the Sephardic settlers predate the Mayflower.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the "old country" to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Book 3 of 3
- By Etoile NEOhio on 11-15-22
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Life at the Dakota
- New York's Most Unusual Address
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 184
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Story4 out of 5 stars 158
When Singer sewing machine tycoon Edward Clark built a luxury apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the late 1800s, it was derisively dubbed “the Dakota” for being as far from the center of the downtown action as its namesake territory on the nation’s western frontier. Despite its remote location, the quirky German Renaissance-style castle, with its intricate façade, peculiar interior design, and gargoyle guardians peering down on Central Park, was an immediate hit, particularly among the city’s well-heeled intellectuals and artists.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Written 40 years ago
- By Anonymous User on 05-30-19
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The Plaza
- The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel
- By: Julie Satow
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 284
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 251
The Plaza is the account of one vaunted New York City address that has become synonymous with wealth and scandal, opportunity and tragedy. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, it is the story of how one hotel became a mirror reflecting New York's place at the center of the country's cultural narrative for over a century.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Don't need your politics, Julie
- By Debra Noe on 03-29-20
By: Julie Satow
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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 66
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
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
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Too much fluff
- By JESSICA BAUER on 09-02-22
By: Laura Thompson
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The Rothschilds
- A Family Portrait
- By: Frederic Morton
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
No family in the past two centuries has been as constantly at the center of Europe's great events, has featured such varied and spectacular personalities, has had anything close to the wealth of the Rothschilds. To this day they remain one of the most powerful and wealthy families in the world. In Frederic Morton's classic tale, the family is brought vividly to life.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Engaging read but dubious sentiment
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-20
By: Frederic Morton
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Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- By: Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 791
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 711
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 707
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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5 out of 5 stars
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The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
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The Auerbach Will
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: Stan Adams, Maria Freeman, Charles Fuller, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
Ambitious young Essie Litsky defies a rigid upbringing by immigrant Russian Jewish parents to achieve wealth and success. But her children tear Essie and her husband Jack Auerbach's family apart in fights over their fortune, and Essie finds that money will not mend broken lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting family dynamics
- By NH Wifey on 10-11-20
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 285
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?
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5 out of 5 stars
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The OTHER Huguette Clark Book
- By Teadrinker on 03-24-15
By: Meryl Gordon
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American Empress
- The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post
- By: Nancy Rubin Stuart
- Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 146
American Empress is the best-selling history of the dramatic life of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, daughter of breakfast-cereal magnate C.W. Post, founder of the Postum Cereal Company.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow what a fantastic story and person
- By Zombie support Group on 03-18-21
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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 13
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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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Real Lace
- America's Irish Rich
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2
Author Stephen Birmingham, who chronicled the rise of Jewish immigrants to extraordinary wealth and success in Our Crowd, now turns his attention to the Irish. Real Lace tells the colorful and fascinating true stories of America’s most renowned Irish-Catholic families. Scions of courageous, driven, and resilient men and women who escaped starvation during Ireland’s terrible potato famine in the mid-19th century, they battled their way out of the slums of Boston and New York, overcoming prejudice and poverty to achieve great wealth, fame, and political power.
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Mrs. Astor Regrets
- The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach
- By: Meryl Gordon
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 262
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 192
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 198
The fate of Brooke Astor, the endearing philanthropist with the storied name, has generated worldwide headlines since her grandson Philip sued his father in 2006, alleging mistreatment of Brooke. And shortly after her death in 2007, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. Astor's only child, was indicted on charges of looting her estate. Rarely has there been a story with such an appealing heroine, conjuring up a world so nearly forgotten.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Beje on 09-06-15
By: Meryl Gordon
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The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
- By: Andrew Porwancher
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
In The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Porwancher debunks a string of myths about the origins of this founding father to arrive at a startling conclusion: Hamilton, in all likelihood, was born and raised Jewish. For more than two centuries, his youth in the Caribbean has remained shrouded in mystery. Hamilton himself wanted it that way, and most biographers have simply assumed he had a Christian boyhood. With a detective's persistence and a historian's rigor, Porwancher upends that assumption.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Anti-Semitism and Religious Liberty
- By Detailed Shopper on 12-07-23
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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 5,145
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,450
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,423
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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The Mitford Affair
- A Novel
- By: Marie Benedict
- Narrated by: Emma Griffiths
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 164
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story4 out of 5 stars 147
Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters—each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next—dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress.
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1 out of 5 stars
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the mitford affair
- By Tbrock on 01-20-23
By: Marie Benedict
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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 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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
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Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
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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 1,404
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,155
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,146
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.