Lisa's Reviews > Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

Goodness, what a disappointment this book was! "Rise and fall" is a bit of a misnomer, given that this book is literally all over the place. We know the Commodore made a bunch of money; we know his son Billy made more; and we know the rest of them squandered it on building opulent mansions which no one could afford to keep up. But is that it? Is that really the whole story? I guess maybe the words "rise and fall" being in the title, I was expecting more exposition on that part of it. Perhaps I'd have lowered my expectations if this book had instead been called a "bunch of random Vanderbilt family anecdotes".

The in-depth sailing chapter? What was the goal there? SO MUCH on Truman Capote? While he was a friend of Gloria, I'm just not sure why that was such a large part of this book. I'm not sure what his time in Kansas writing In Cold Blood has to do with the Vanderbilts rise and fall. Also, while I know this wasn't meant to be written in a linear timeline, maybe it should have been? It was really confusing at some points, especially since the family tree didn't have dates attached to it. For example, opening with Gloria going on a date at age 17 with Howard Hughes, to then backing WAY up to the Morgan Sisters, and hopping aroud unti Gloria was an adult made for a really unenjoyable experience. It was also (outside of the chapers about Alva), just....boring content. And when I was coming to the end of boring content, it seemed like they'd instead back up FURTHER to tell me the source of that boring content.

There was also a REALLY disjointed section in the book about a mine collapse in Illinois. While I understood that it was meant to compare the amount of money offered to miners' families in direct contrast to the massive sums Alva spent on her party.....there was no connection to the family. I was half-expecting the chapter to end with a note that the mine was owned by a Vanderbilt. It just felt like really weird, shoddy writing, and a mismatched way to connect two events that were so far from being connected. I actually read it, and re-read it to see if I had missed anything because it just seemed so out of place.

I love Anderson Cooper, and I love stories about the Gilded Age, and I'm fascinated by the old money families wreaking golden havoc on Manhattan. The one (small) slice of the book dedicated to talking about where, in modern day Manhattan all of these grand homes once stood was wonderful! But on the whole, this book was just a patchwork of mismatched fabric squares sewn together in the wrong pattern. There are better books on this era (and frankly, about this family) that make this one a waste of precious reading time.