The Astors: 1763-1992: Landscape with Millionaires

New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. xix, 439 pages, illustrations; 24 cm. Near fine. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Age toning. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. "The Astors is a fascinating story of one of the world's most intriguing dynasties, written in the tradition of Peter Collier and David Horowitz's The Kennedys and The Rockefellers. They originated in Germany. They became millionaires in America. They were leaders of the political and social scenes in the United States and in Britain. The Astor family have left their mark on the landscape of history as surely as they have on the lands in which they lived. Derek Wilson, author of the bestselling Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, has been given access to private Astor papers never before seen by researchers and he has created a compelling portrait of a great family that has exercised an unmatched influence - sometimes open, sometimes covert - on the life of two great nations. John Jacob Astor I arrived in America a poor immigrant and became the new republic's richest citizen and a friend of presidents, the owner of much of New York, the earliest embodiment of the American Dream. To this day, many of Manhattan's architectural treasures are Astor legacies. In the year he died his great-grandson, William Waldorf Astor was born: not content to live off his Manhattan rents, he traveled to England bought himself a mansion, a castle, and country estates, and ended his life a viscount. His descendants were at the very center of power as wealthy press barons and members of Parliament. His daughter-in-law Nancy, an American by birth, became Britain's first woman Member of Parliament. Meanwhile, back in America Vincent Astor owned Newsweek and was a close advisor of Franklin D. Roosevelt. After his death, his widow Brooke emerged as the virtual queen of New York high society and one of the country's leading philanthropists. Derek Wilson's The Astors has a double fascination. It is the exotic story of a glamorous family involved in business, real estate, high society, politics, and journalism. And it is also the biography of two societies, the elites of the world's leading nations, which charts their rise and fall, their convergence and divergence, their joys, sorrows, and tragedies, their feuds and alliances over two tumultuous centuries." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.