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Paperback
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
ISBN13: 9780393331608
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
"Kiernan's sharp-eyed biography brings back a woman who, far into her 90s, relished the dance of life."—O Magazine The fabulous life of Brooke Astor, a pioneer of philanthropy and for decades a luminary of New York society. Hers is a story out of Edith Wharton. After a disastrous early marriage, Brooke Astor wedded the notoriously ill-tempered Vincent Astor, who died in 1959. In a highly publicized courtroom battle, Brooke fought off an attempt to break Vincent's will, which left some $67 million to the Vincent Astor Foundation. As the foundation's president, Brooke would use this legacy to benefit New York, where the Astor fortune had been made. Brooke would personally visit each grant applicant and charm anyone she met. At her one-hundredth birthday, princes and presidents honored her, but in 2006 a grandson petitioned the courts to have his father removed as Brooke's guardian. Once again an Astor court battle became the stuff of headlines. This biography—based on firsthand knowledge and interviews with Brooke's friends and the heads of New York's great cultural institutions—gives us back the woman so loved and admired, whose hands-on approach would inspire future philanthropists. .
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| Amazing Astor |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I gifted this to my Mom & she loved it--she couldn't put the book down! It was filled with interesting historical info as well as juicy stories!
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| Good story but poorly written |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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I think her story is interesting but this book seemed to jump all over the place. I got half way through and the writer was still talking about her in her 20's. I put it down and haven't picked it up yet. Maybe I bought the wrong book because I wanted to hear about her when she was big in NYC, and what happened as she got old.
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| Starts off slow |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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The beginning started off slow and then picked up towards the middle. At the end though, it started to get boring. I didn't like the author's writing style. She was constantly quoting someone and was flipping around with dates and times.
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| fair to midlin |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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I got the impression at the beginning of the book that the author did not like the subject. She seemed to appreciate her more as the book progressed. I was disappointed that there were so few photographs of Mrs. Astor and far too many of people of little interest. There are certainly enough of them to be had. There could have been photos of their homes also which would have made it more real. I was also disappointed that there was not even a single photo of the Nourmahal. I bought it mainly for that reason. I will read the books by Mrs. Astor now and hope that her son gets a very generous prison sentence and his wife does too. They deserve it.
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| I heartily recommend this book, if only to see how the other half live |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Starting from a humble beginning as the daughter of a Marine Corps Lieutenant, Brooke Astor's life is chronicled by Frances Kiernan in a slow-paced matter-of-fact way, until about the middle of the biography, when the author makes her connection to the main character, the Grande Dame of New York society, and the story takes off. The words then begin to sparkle and true admiration emerges to demonstrative heights as we get into some real meaty insights of this patriarch of Manhattan.
Brooke Astor had married three times and Kiernan tells her story as it was lived for the hundred plus years of Brooke's life. The great love she had for Vincent Astor and the wealth which was bestowed upon her and the Vincent Astor Foundation is breathtaking. Yet, through all this, Brooke only thought of the people of New York and making their lives culturally better. She endowed art projects, museums, parks, and many charities which needed assistance in the years when she was the chair of the Astor Foundation. Much to the chagrin of previous board and chair members, she imposed her will to those charities which needed special attention. As the years unfold, we are shown the strength of a lady who was indeed gracious, impeccable, and very strong minded in the face of others who had their own agendas to accomplish. She gave away over 200 million dollars!
We are given a glimpse inside her manipulations of those around her and how she was able to accomplish many great projects for the people of New York.
Her biggest disappointment was that of her son Tony Marshall, who allegedly took advantage of this strong lady towards the end of her life by swindling the foundation and her funds out of millions of dollars. He is currently under indictment and trial is set to begin in February 2009. He commenced his activities of taking control of her money when she was in her 90's and she died in 2007 at age 105. Replete with 24 pages of photographs, I heartily recommend this book, if only to see how the other half live.
Clark Isaacs
Reviewer
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