Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt : the story of a daughter and a mother in the Gilded Age / Amanda Mackenzie Stuart.
Material type:
TextPublication details: New York : Haper Collins Publishers, c2005.Edition: 1st edDescription: xix, 579 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. (some col.), geneal. tables ; 24 cmISBN: - 0066214181 (alk. paper)
- Consuelo and Alva
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 929.2 S929 | Available | 33111004654444 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"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 the underfunded Duke of Marlborough was just the thing--even though Consuelo loved someone else.
The story of these two women is not simply one of empty wealth, Gilded Age glamour, and of enterprising social ambition. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt is also a fascinating account of how two women struggled to break free from the deeply materialistic, stifling world into which they were born, taking up the fight for female equality. In this brilliant and engrossing book, Amanda Mackenzie Stuart suggests that behind the most famous transatlantic marriage lies an extraordinary tale of the quest for female power.
Originally published: Consuelo and Alva. London : HarperCollins, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [545]-557) and index.
When Consuelo's grandfather died, he was the richest man in America. Her father soon started to spend the family fortune, enthusiastically supported by Consuelo's mother, Alva, who was determined to attain the top of New York society. She was adamant that her daughter should make a grand marriage to the underfunded Duke of Marlborough--it didn't matter that Consuelo loved someone else. However, the story of Consuelo and Alva is not simply one of the emptiness of wealth, of the glamour of the Gilded Age, and of enterprising social ambition. This is an account of how two women struggled to break free from the materialistic world into which they were born, taking up the fight for female equality. Consuelo threw herself into good works, and her social and political campaigns proved an antidote to loneliness. Alva embraced the militant suffragette movement in America, campaigning vehemently for women's rights until she died.--From publisher description.