Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: This fascinating family biography follows the Vanderbilt family from the builder of the family fortune, Cornelius Vanderbilt, to the fall of the family's fortunes less than fifty years later. This is a story of excess that could only come out of the Gilded Age - of extravagant parties, houses the size of palaces, and bids to outdo one another in the opulence of each other's lifestyles. The tragedy is the complete exhaustion of what was once the greatest fortune in America. 

The founder of the family fortune, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was known as the Commodore and famous for his cantankerous disposition and fierce protection of his fortune that was built largely through the railroad. When he died, he had accumulated a "fortune of $105 million. He was richer, by far, than anyone else in the United States was or ever had been" (49). After the Commodore, the book follows the fate of selected members of his descendants through several generations. Rather than attempt to follow every descendent of the family, the author wisely chooses the most colorful and spendthrift of the bunch to focus on in this book. 

This book is literally filled with shocking details of extravagant spending, such as a party thrown by the Commodore's granddaughter-in-law Alva Vanderbilt that cost $250,000 (in 1883, no less), $11,000 of which were spent on roses alone (121). Or Grace Vanderbilt, who in the early 1900s devoted her life to her social calendar and was entertaining "at least ten thousand guests each year" (310). While it cannot be a comprehensive biography of any of the family members it focuses on, it provides a great overview of each and hones in on the stories that will grip the reader's attention. 

The Vanderbilts are a huge family and I was left wondering about the many family members who didn't make the cut for inclusion in this book. Some, like the Vanderbilt responsible for building the Biltmore, make brief appearances without significant details. Likewise, I was curious to see the author is a Vanderbilt but no reference is made to his place within the family tree. On the same note, the lack of a family tree in the opening of the book was frustrating at times, as I quickly began to lose track of how everyone was related once the book made its way down into the third and fourth generation of descendants from the Commodore. However, all in all a fascinating book about a fabulously wealthy family who lived during a time when wealth was to be spent on entertaining, ostentatious homes, and self indulgence, without thought of the future or much consideration for philanthropy. 

Stars: 4

Related Titles: 

• Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart
• The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess - In Her Own Words by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan