2024 the best books of the 21st century review

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“Splendid. . . . haunting and beautifully written.”  — Washington Post

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 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. 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 Breakers—the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius’s grandson and namesake had built—the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all.

Now, the Commodore’s 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 family’s empire, basked in the Commodore’s 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 insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.

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4.3 out of 5 stars

3,243

4.4 out of 5 stars

11,617

4.6 out of 5 stars

940

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08R3WD7WD
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (September 21, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 21, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 36630 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
Reviewer: Norma S
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: great read
Review: Kudos to Anderson Cooper for this expose of his ancestral history. What a story! It was sometimes hard to keep everyone straight, but overall a masterpiece.

Reviewer: Red Wolf
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Regional History, Lots of Research
Review: A lot of research went into this book and I learned a lot about an area of American history that interests me. The book is well written, and I read it in two days and enjoyed learning a lot more about an aspect of American history that I already knew quite a lot about. But I am an extremely fast reader, so it will take most people a lot longer to read. The book also assumes that the reader has a reasonable general knowledge of American history and Modern world history, either a typical college course, a very good high school course, or considerable independent reading, or something similar.Well researched and very well written, and an interesting topic for history buffs, so well worth reading for the right reader!

Reviewer: Evelyn Boada
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fascinating read.
Review: A fascinating look at another time in our history and a way of life we may have thought we enviedVery well written and an easy read.

Reviewer: DJ
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not bad; not quite what I was hoping for
Review: I bought and listened to the Audible version all the way through. Before I listened, I knew basically nothing about the Vanderbilts, aside from they were an old wealthy family and that Gloria sold jeans (though I actually had not made the connection between the old family and Gloria until the book).Pros:- Cooper is, not surprisingly, a great narrator. Clear and polished without being affected.- The book delivered to some extent on its title, describing the rise and fall of the dynasty, though emphasizing the fall.- Certainly I know more about the Vanderbilts than I did before the book and have some sense of their place in history.Cons:- The book did not pay nearly enough attention to how the money was made. Basically, we hear a lot about how Commodore Cornelius got his start, which was great, but not how he built an empire. How people make money is important. Was it hard work and smart decisions? What were those decisions? Management style? How did the transition into railroads work? Who were other important people in the businesses? Was he a straight shooter or slimy? Is there a "great crime" behind the great fortune? And then, we get to BIlly, his primary heir, who in eight years *doubled* what was already the country's largest fortune, but *nothing* about how he made that happen (or whether he lucked into it). From there we hear little about the Vanderbilt involvement with the railroad, even though they seemed to be at least a little involved.Basically, if you're going to present the rise and fall of a dynasty, spend at least as much time talking about how it was created (the hard part) as you do about how it was dissipated.- The book involves a lot of time travel, with flashbacks, forward, sideways. It does this at both a chapter level and within the chapters. It was incredibly hard to follow at times, especially since I had not heard of any of these people before. This, along with sometimes not naming the people being talked about until well into a story, was completely unhelpful. The stories themselves are frequently dramatic, and they don't need these devices to make them so.- Way too much detail about flowers at parties, attire, and home furnishings. It worked for Edith Wharton but not so well here.- Way too many details that are speculative. "He would have felt the ..." It seemed like there was an attempt at literary fiction here - it didn't succeed for me.- Why was there an entire chapter about Truman Capote? I get that he and Gloria were friends, but that doesn't seem to me to justify an entire chapter, or if it does, the chapter should be mostly about their relationship, and not a mini-biography of his rise and fall.

Reviewer: E. Piper
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: FASCINATING
Review: I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the Vanderbilt family. I found their history fascinating and was appalled at how they squandered such an immense fortune. It was a well-written, factual narrative that I highly recommend.

Reviewer: Robert Sinclair
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting American history.
Review: A most interesting book and a worthwhile read. Book arrived on time and in good shape.

Reviewer: Mcclden
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good read
Review: After going to Newport and touring The Breakers and Marble House i wanted to get a deeper understanding of the Gilded Age. This was a good read and enjoyed.

Reviewer: Hawk
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Book
Review: I liked the entire book!

Reviewer: Pedro C
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I strongly recommend Anderson Cooper's version of the Vanderbilts. Not only because of the great research work but for the point of view from which he visions his ancestors and their individual contribution to both America's and the world's social and trending evolution.

Reviewer: bill mullen, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I originally bought this book for myself and then purchased a second one as a gift. Beautiful book that is so comfortable to read, its so well written its as though you’re sitting there listening to a persons family stories. Honest and open about the era, how people lived and were perceived by onlookers. Wonderful book that I would recommend as a very good read!

Reviewer: Laurence Lautman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: to be honest i was a little dissapointed.

Reviewer: Manuel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Interesting reading recommended to everybody

Reviewer: the1andonly
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This writing team have produced the best, most interesting and most human of the books that I have read about the super-rich American families of the 19th century. Mr Cooper's family insight is invaluable. A must for anyone interested in this period.