Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age (P.S.) - Softcover

MacKenzie Stuart, Amanda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060938250 ISBN 13: 9780060938253

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

When Consuelo Vanderbilt's grandfather died, he was the richest man in America. Her father soon started to spend the family fortune, enthusiastically supported by Consuelo's mother, Alva, who was determined to take the family to the top of New York society--forcing a heartbroken Consuelo into a marriage she did not want with the underfunded Duke of Marlborough. But the story of Consuelo and Alva is more than a tale of enterprising social ambition, Gilded Age glamour, and the emptiness of wealth. It is a fascinating account of two extraordinary women who struggled to break free from the world into which they were born--a world of materialistic concerns and shallow elitism in which females were voiceless and powerless--and of their lifelong dedication to noble and dangerous causes and the battle for women's rights.

About this title

Review:

"[A] deftly contextualized account."--Vogue

"A riveting story... Alva and Consuelo emerge as unique and fascinating characters... A very entertaining read."--Publishers Weekly

"Skilfully and sympathetically told. . . . Brilliant."--Antonia Fraser, The Times (London)

"highly readable, well constructed, novelish biography...a confident and compelling book."--Contemporary Review

"Compellingly readable... [Mackenzie Stuart] writes... with the eye of an accomplished historian and with profound sympathy for the central figures."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's."--Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review

"An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating."--USA Today

"Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuart's history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents."--The New Yorker

"Mackenzie Stuart has skillfully integrated a great deal of research... and she gives a rich sense of both women."--Washington Post Book World

"A saga of transatlantic maneuvers worthy of Henry James or Edith Wharton."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author:

Amanda Mackenzie Stuart is the author of Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age. She lives in Oxford, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060938250
• ISBN 13: 9780060938253
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 656