This was a very informative book and it was an enjoyable read as well. I do love history and the Vanderbilt family history is fascinating. I know that I am supposed to loathe and deplore these people for being wealthy one percenters......but I can't. People are just people and I tend to judge them by their actions rather than their economic class. I felt sympathy for some of them, especially Consuelo and Neil, the son of Cornelius and Grace Vanderbilt.

As a house geek, this book was very satisfying. I really liked reading about the construction and furnishing of the Vanderbilt homes. I think George Vanderbilt was the coolest of all; turning his back on New York society and building his little duchy in North Carolina and living the life of a gentleman farmer. (Just what I would do if a big powerball win were to roll my way)

It also just kills me that I do not have a time machine and can't go back to the times when all various Vanderbilt descendants were auctioning off all their possessions. Amazing stuff, going for pennies on the dollar and my poor self yet unborn and unable to bid. Maybe someday there will be a repeat of this with other wealthy families, but I have seen pics of Donald Trump's homes......and quite honestly, I'm not spending good money on tacky crap regardless of how much it originally cost.

So read this book and live vicariously through the Vanderbilt family for a while.....it's fun! ( )

The story of the Vanderbilt family.
It was reptitious and boring. ( )

A sad and telling story of the fall of a family. Those who currently strive to be in the 1% of wealth should read it as a cautionary tale. Greed and excess are not virtues. ( )

couldn't get past the first 10 % ( )

By fair means and foul, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt built a fortune of $105 million in the mid-nineteenth century. One hundred years later, most of that fortune was gone.

In Fortune's Children, Arthur T. Vanderbilt II paints a vivid portrait of his ancestors. The Commodore is one of the most important capitalists this country has ever produced, and with the marriage of his great-granddaughter to the Duke of Marlborough, this book will make excellent reading for any fan of Downton Abbey.

The author states that the fortune dissipated quickly because the Commodore was the first and only Vanderbilt who was obsessed with making money. The Vanderbilt men who followed were obsessed with keeping it. You need both to maintain those bank balances. Some-- like Alva Belmont Vanderbilt-- were obsessed with spending it to ram their way into New York's high society. Alva built some of the largest and most ostentatious homes ever to grace these shores, and the houses' interiors were even more lavish than their exteriors. Each of the author's ancestors is portrayed with wit and sorrow, which can often happen with the "advantage" of hindsight.

This is an absorbing tale of greed, snobbery, and profligacy that kept me fascinated from first page to last. If this is your cup of tea, I urge you to pour yourself some. ( )