Justin Kaplan (1925–2014)

Really more of a social history than a financial history, especially since the source of the Astor family wealth -- its massive real estate holdings alluded to in the title -- is only glancingly looked at, in favour of assorted family eccentricities and scandals. The family history stuff is fairly old hat -- readers of Lucius Beebe would be familiar with it. A missed opportunity, in some respects, though it's still an interesting read.

This is a fascinating biography of the two characters invented by their author: Samuel Clemens & Mark Twain---and the Jekyll and Hyde relationship between the two. Clemens/Twain was a great humorist and at his best in some of his writings or onstage, something Hal Holbrook seems to capture well. But he was a bitter and angry man, too. If you want to read behind the personae created by Twain, this is a good and deep exploration.

An excellent warts and all biography of a legend. I am most struck by what an utter shame it is that his business dealings and failures prevented him from writing so much more. He was a man of his times, though. Writing was work. He was from the Gilded Age where men struck it rich on a whim. Little did he realize what riches he had in Livy, Suzy, Clara, Jean, his friends -- Howells in particular. He lived a full rich life but he never appreciated what he had, not even his talent. An enigma.

I've heard the name Astor, of course, but really, other than hoighty-toighty New York, I knew nothing about them. What an interesting--though not very admirable--bunch. This is a biography of the family's founder, one of his sons, two of that son's three sons, and two sons from the next generation. I word it in that convoluted way because there are a whole bunch of Astors who are ignored here (all the women, plus a bunch of men). This book, written in a journalistic style, is about the power show more players from the Astor family. And it's a quick read.

The subtitle "blue bloods" is tongue in cheek--the family patriarch, John Jacob Astor (b. 1763) was a poor young immigrant from Waldorf, Germany. Obviously a smart fellow, he went from penniless to major property owner of Manhattan. By the time he died well into his 80s, his family had joined the idle rich of New York City. Most of his wealth came from collecting rents from the slums and other properties of NYC. As is common with generational family money, the subsequent generations lived in a world completely out of touch with the real world. One of his great-grandsons had a family lineage researched/created that erased their humble German beginnings and instead had them fighting crusades in Medieval Jerusalem. He also deserted the United States because of its lack of culture and after decades of shameless self-promotion, was made an English peer. Unlike other wealthy families in New York who in some way gave back to the people of the city (for example, Carnegie), the Astors used their money only to make more money for themselves.

The two branches of the family tree did not get along, yet somehow they coordinated to become the creators of the American luxury hotel, and collaborated on the Waldorf-Astoria (the current hotel in NYC with that name, btw, has no connection to the family). Over the years, they built many high-end hotels in New York City, but today all of them are gone except the St. Regis.

Some reviewers here at LT commented that they were looking for more, or expected it to tie together better, and I see what they mean; however, it's a biography, not fiction. Sometimes the facts will only work themselves together along certain paths, and there isn't much an author can do about it. My complaint about the book is all the left out people--including the current generation of Astors. show less