Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Hardcover – September 19, 2023

Wonderfully written and very interesting, with deep insights about life in NY across centuries.

Not the best book I’ve read about the Astors but certainly the quickest. Good for a reading group pick as there’s plenty to dissect.

interesting and engaging and perfect for the drive home from vacation in Acadia to home in the Berkshire Hills. We are old enough to remember when some of this story was still making news, but even that faded from consciousness without having an end. Authoritatively told by Anderson Cooper, himself an Astor.

I am a fan of Anderson Cooper and his writing, and I have enjoyed everything else he has written. I have read many books on The Astor Family, and various members of it, and was really looking forward to this book. Maybe I just had too high expectations from Cooper's previous books.First I feel that Cooper is holding a personal vendetta against the Astor family. He makes it quite clear when discussing Brooke Astor's (apparent) snubbing of him when he was not with his mother at Mortimer's. As a seasoned journalist I would think Cooper wouldn't be so biased, but its all over the book. Clearly in Cooper's eyes the Vanderbilts were better than the Astors. I am sure (and I hope) that IRL Cooper doesn't still hold this apparent grudge against a family, but by reading the book you would think we were back in The Gilded Age and Anderson was not invited to Mrs. Astor's balls.My larger issue is that a book that for me should have been like reading my favorite type of candy this book was very dull at points. There are countless pages about things that I feel could have been explained in one or two pages (such as the massacre at the Astor House). I was shocked to find some parts of this book tedious for me to get through.If you don't know much about the Astor Family this does give you a full picture of the family origins and how they got where they got to, but I'd probably recommend something a little less biased.I am not sorry I got this book. It's a great package, and the authors are quite talented. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Still will buy future books by Cooper in the hopes they keep me as interested as his prior works.

Very informative

It’s evident that a lot of research went into this book. I enjoyed the history, learned more tidbits that I wasn’t aware of. Good read and this has me interested in the second Mrs Astor, would love to read more about her and why she got tangled up with a much older man

Great story!

Very interesting history. Some really unexpected revelations too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Was factual with personal experiences intertwined throughout. It provides the reader with a window to see inside one of the wealthiest times of America history and the impact on society.

Enjoyable read but focuses on singular events/people/places so leads to patchy overall enjoyment.

The Astor history is fascinating and an inspiring account of what early American fortunes were based on. Also how times gave changed and the opportunities of old are no longer present. But from nothing but with great vision comes wealth!!

I haven't started to read this book yet but i read the covers and i know i well like it as i love books that are about real people and events. I have read Anderson Cooper's other books and loved them.

I already know all about the Astors so this book held nothing new for me apart from a few quotes from valuable primary sources like Town Topics. That said however it is still an engaging, if haphazard, read.My greatest issue with it however is the glaring historical inaccuracies. The greatest example is that of John Jacob Astor IV, the most famous Astor of them all, the great man who lost his life on the Titanic. Due to this association, much as been written about him and his death, all which can be found through a simple glance at Encyclopaedia Titanica. Thus I was shocked at the inaccuracies in this book regarding his final days.The Astors did NOT board Titanic at Southampton. They boarded in Cherbourg, France.But most irritating of all is the blind repetition of the ‘falling funnel’ myth that was debunked years ago.JOHN JACOB ASTOR IV WAS NOT KILLED BY A FALLING FUNNEL.There was no ‘blunt force trauma.’ His body was not crushed and sooty beyond recognition. In fact his body was almost perfectly preserved – ‘The features were unharmed, the face being only slightly discolored by water.’ (Buffalo Morning Express, 1 May 1912)I probably sound pedantic but I’m sorry blatant inaccuracies like this are unacceptable, especially when the subject has been written on extensively.(Disappointed in the front cover too. Ava Willing is not deserving of it.)Overall, worth a look at but know that there are far better biographies of the Astor family out there – Derek Wilson’s The Astors and John D. Gates’ The Astor Family are two that come to mind.