Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age

by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart

Book Overview

"A dual life story that reads as pleasurably as the best fiction but with all the intelligence of a first-rate biography. . . . completely absorbing."--Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

The granddaughter of the richest man in America, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the prize catch of New York Society. But her socially ambitious mother, Alva, was adamant that her daughter should make a grand marriage, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060938250
• ISBN13: 9780060938253
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 656 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Very interesting !

Well written book, bringing to life the rewards and regrets of the very wealthy Vanderbilt family!

Better than most fiction!

Long book, but very good. Seems we've always been more than just a little interested in the private lives of the rich and famous in this country. From the description of the bridal lingerie of Consuelo in the newspapers to the reportings of celebrity "antics" today. Nice to know that she, and her mother, were aware of the changing world around them, and made contributions to society.

Consuelo and Alva

Fascinating story well presented. This well-researched book has clarified several misconceptions about the Consuelo and Alva story.

Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age

I liked the book, some of what the author had placed in her book was from other books.

Fascinating Glimpse Into Two Lives

I didn't read this book for a while after I bought it, as I found its heft daunting. However, once I started it, I was totally absorbed. Mackenzie Stuart combines two stories in one. I refer not to the stories of the mother and daughter, but the combination of describing lifestyles that seem almost medieval and then telling the story of the women's suffrage movements in the US and UK from Alva and Consuelo's vantage points. I can't speak to the few factual errors pointed out by one of the earlier reviewers. However, as for the subejct-verb error cited, although the phrase is incorrect in American usage, I believe it is correct in British usage. I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in 20th-century social (in both senses of the word) history in the US and UK.

A Great Read... but overextended for one book

I gave this 5 stars because it's an achievement for the author to put all this together. I enjoyed it all and learned a lot. There were times I couldn't put it down. I almost held back a star because sometimes I lost the forest for the trees. This cries out to be published as three solid volumes because two dynamic lives and several periods of history (US: post-Civil War, Gilded Age, Sufferage Movement/War and Europe: Victorian, Edwardian, Suffrage, War, Peace, War) are too much to be crammed into one book. Mackenzie Stuart gives us a riviting description of how Alva took the less than 400 caliber Vanderbilt Family to the pinnacle of American social prominence through determination, further inherited $, architectually distinctive houses and great entertaining. Alva, perhaps understood society of her times all too well. The only career for a woman was the one that she had, so she made certain her daughter had the tools of the trade (thereby cementing her position as well). She groomed Consuelo through carefully supervised tutoring, backbraces for regal posture, hectoring and isolation for a role in the European aristocracy. Untold is William K. Vanderbilt's family role, how Alva raised the sons or how Consuelo related to the male family members. I'd like a little more on Rutherford. The Lucy Mercer connection alone makes him more worthy than Alva's dimissive opinion. Did Alva bootstrap all the other Vanderbilts and the Smiths with her? How did they respond to society and the sequestering of Consuelo? Three volumes would allow for this. Stuart Mackenzie's description of the Consuelo's welcome to rural feudal England of the 1890's is amazing. Also amazing are descriptions of how the aristocracy barged in on one another for extended stays expecting to be dined and constantly entertained. For the Prince of Wales' visit the Marlboroughs puchased new wardrobes so they could change 6 times each day. Logistics managed by the young Duchess included seating protocol for the aristocrats, but also the mixing of household servants (can a governess of a future Prince of Wales, dine with a governess of a young Duke? and there was only one bathroom in Blenheim). Another reviewer noted an error in the section about the Tzarina which was probably due to so much content cramming. I missed the error because I stuck on the meaning of Alexandra's not granting the Marlboroughs an "audience". (Were the Marlboroughs snubbed?) I think a 3 vol. treatment would have been more thorough here and would have time to analyse the begging question: Did Consuelo do for the Marlboroughs what Alva did for the Vanderbilts? and smaller curiosities: the effects of the joint custody arrangement... the Duke's finances without Consuelo.. society's reaction to the Duke's courtship of/marriage to Gladys... Alva's reaction to the divorce... William K's expanded role... Consuelo's route to activism. The sections on activism, the war, and Alva and Consuelo's later life don