Download or read book Willie K Vanderbilt II written by Steven H. Gittelman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vanderbilts were one of the great American families of the industrial era. This book explores the life of one of its lesser-known scions of the fourth generation, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, known simply as Willie K. An inheritor, not a builder, Willie K. lacked the drive and ambition necessary for furthering the Vanderbilt dynasty, especially in the political atmosphere of bank failures, the dawn of progressivism, and the First World War. This biography, while the story of one man, is also an exploration of the burden of enormous wealth, the danger of inherited dreams, and the struggle for self-actualization regardless of wealth or social status.
Download or read book Eagle s Nest The William K Vanderbilt II Estate written by Stephanie Gress and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2015 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed and constructed by the eminent New York City architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore, Eagle's Nest estate is the easternmost Gold Coast mansion on Long Island's affluent North Shore. From 1910 to 1944, the palatial Spanish Revival estate was the summer home of William K. Vanderbilt II, great-grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. Eagle's Nest hosted the most exclusive guests and intimate gatherings of Vanderbilt family members and close friends. Included among them were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, golfer Sam Snead, and the Tiffanys. Vanderbilt embarked on many of his legendary world voyages from this locale, along with a 50-person crew and a few fortunate invited passengers. During his travels, he collected natural history specimens and ethnographic artifacts from every corner of the earth. With the help of scientists and museum professionals, Vanderbilt created exhibits at Eagle's Nest to showcase his collections. "Willie K.," as he was known, bequeathed his estate and museum to the public, fulfilling his intended mission.
Download or read book Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt written by Steven H. Gittelman and published by Hamilton Books. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a young age, Alfred Vanderbilt inherited a massive fortune of $40 million and control of the Vanderbilt railroading empire. With no interest in business matters, the youth squandered his wealth on horses and women on two continents. None of the Vanderbilts gave as much fuel for gossip to the curious public as Alfred. By the time the extravagant playboy boarded the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, he was the subject of numerous scandals, including the suicide of four different women. But as the ship went down, he spent the last minutes of his life rescuing women and children and forgoing his own life. How is it that this wraith, this gluttonous, opulent youth, could undergo an entire change of character in his last few moments? Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt follows Alfred’s journey from philanderer to hero in this incredible, never-before-told story of the hero of the Lusitania.
Download or read book Monograph of the William K Vanderbilt House written by John Vredenburgh Van Pelt and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Vanderbilt written by Anderson Cooper and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty—his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts. One of the Washington Post's Notable Works of Nonfiction of 2021 When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by “the Commodore,” subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers—the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius’s grandson and namesake had built—the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all. Now, the Commodore’s great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the family’s empire, basked in the Commodore’s wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other. Written with a unique insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.
Download or read book The Long Island Motor Parkway written by Howard Kroplick and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2008-09-01 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Long Island Motor Parkway was constructed at a pivotal time in American history, and it often considered a precursor to the modern highway system. A forerunner of the modern highway system, the Long Island Motor Parkway was constructed during the advent of the automobile and at a pivotal time in American history. Following a spectator death during the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race, the concept for a privately owned speedway on Long Island was developed by William K. Vanderbilt Jr. and his business associates. It would be the first highway built exclusively for the automobile. Vanderbilt's dream was to build a safe, smooth, police-free road without speed limits where he could conduct his beloved automobile races without spectators running onto the course. Features such as the use of reinforced concrete, bridges to eliminate grade crossings, banked curves, guardrails, and landscaping were all pioneered for the parkway. Reflecting its poor profitability and the availability of free state-built public parkways, the historic 48-mile Long Island Motor Parkway closed on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938.
Download or read book LOG OF MY MOTOR written by William K. (William Kissam) Vanderbilt and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2016-08-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book The Last Castle written by Denise Kiernan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story behind the Biltmore Estate—the largest, grandest private residence in North America, which has seen more than 120 years of history pass by its front door. The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore—and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy. This is the fascinating, “soaring and gorgeous” (Karen Abbott) story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day.
Download or read book J P Morgan and the Transportation Kings written by Steven H. Gittelman and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2012-03-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept was simple, to link American railroads and global dominance of the seas with a railroad line through China and Russia, enter the back door of Europe, and create new royalty: the Transportation Kings. Vanderbilt, Hill, Morgan, and Harriman all pursued the grand dream. They were America’s industrial princes, poised for their greatest accomplishments, only to find that they had not considered the gauntlet awaiting them in the courts of kings and Kaisers, parliaments and congress. They awoke John Bull and helped precipitate revolution in China. They brought about the building of Lusitania and, in reaction, they owned and built the Titanic. We all know how the disaster story ends; this is how the story came about.
Download or read book After Whiteness written by Willie James Jennings and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On forming people who form communion Theological education has always been about formation: first of people, then of communities, then of the world. If we continue to promote whiteness and its related ideas of masculinity and individualism in our educational work, it will remain diseased and thwart our efforts to heal the church and the world. But if theological education aims to form people who can gather others together through border-crossing pluralism and God-drenched communion, we can begin to cultivate the radical belonging that is at the heart of God’s transformative work. In this inaugural volume of the Theological Education between the Times series, Willie James Jennings shares the insights gained from his extensive experience in theological education, most notably as the dean of a major university’s divinity school—where he remains one of the only African Americans to have ever served in that role. He reflects on the distortions hidden in plain sight within the world of education but holds onto abundant hope for what theological education can be and how it can position itself at the front of a massive cultural shift away from white, Western cultural hegemony. This must happen through the formation of what Jennings calls erotic souls within ourselves—erotic in the sense that denotes the power and energy of authentic connection with God and our fellow human beings. After Whiteness is for anyone who has ever questioned why theological education still matters. It is a call for Christian intellectuals to exchange isolation for intimacy and embrace their place in the crowd—just like the crowd that followed Jesus and experienced his miracles. It is part memoir, part decolonial analysis, and part poetry—a multimodal discourse that deliberately transgresses boundaries, as Jennings hopes theological education will do, too.
Download or read book The Last Night in London written by Karen White and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Karen White weaves a captivating story of friendship, love, and betrayal that moves between war-torn London during the Blitz and the present day. London, 1939. Beautiful and ambitious Eva Harlow and her American best friend, Precious Dubose, are trying to make their way as fashion models. When Eva falls in love with Graham St. John, an aristocrat and Royal Air Force pilot, she can’t believe her luck—she’s getting everything she ever wanted. Then the Blitz devastates her world, and Eva finds herself slipping into a web of intrigue, spies, and secrets. As Eva struggles to protect her friendship with Precious and everything she holds dear, all it takes is one unwary moment to change their lives forever… London, 2019. American journalist Maddie Warner, whose life has been marked by the tragic loss of her mother, travels to London to interview Precious about her life in pre-WWII London. Maddie has been careful to close herself off to others, but in Precious she recognizes someone whose grief rivals her own—but unlike Maddie, Precious hasn’t allowed it to crush her. Maddie finds herself drawn to both Precious and to Colin, her enigmatic surrogate nephew. As Maddie gets closer to her, she begins to unravel Precious’s haunting past—a story of friendship, betrayal, and the unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
Download or read book The Barons of Newport written by Terrence Gavan and published by . This book was released on 1988-06 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Automobile and American Life 2d ed written by John Heitmann and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now revised and updated, this book tells the story of how the automobile transformed American life and how automotive design and technology have changed over time. It details cars' inception as a mechanical curiosity and later a plaything for the wealthy; racing and the promotion of the industry; Henry Ford and the advent of mass production; market competition during the 1920s; the development of roads and accompanying highway culture; the effects of the Great Depression and World War II; the automotive Golden Age of the 1950s; oil crises and the turbulent 1970s; the decline and then resurgence of the Big Three; and how American car culture has been represented in film, music and literature. Updated notes and a select bibliography serve as valuable resources to those interested in automotive history.
Download or read book George Eastman written by Elizabeth Brayer and published by University Rochester Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Eastman transformed the world of photography. In this revealing and informative biography, Elizabeth Brayer draws a vivid portrait of this enigmatic and complex man.
Download or read book Acts written by Willie James Jennings and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new commentary for the Belief series, award-winning author and theologian Willie James Jennings explores the relevance of the book of Acts for the struggles of today. While some see Acts as the story of the founding of the Christian church, Jennings argues that it is so much more, depicting revolutionlife in the disrupting presence of the Spirit of God. According to Jennings, Acts is like Genesis, revealing a God who is moving over the land, "putting into place a holy repetition that speaks of the willingness of God to invade our every day and our every moment." He reminds us that Acts took place in a time of Empire, when the people were caught between diaspora Israel and the Empire of Rome. The spirit of God intervened, offering new life to both. Jennings shows that Acts teaches how people of faith can yield to the Spirit to overcome the divisions of our present world.
Download or read book An Inkling of Brewster written by Frank E. Wismer III and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-06-11 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Inkling of Brewster details a decade long foray into custom built automobiles by Brewster and Company of Long Island City, New York beginning in 1915. Brewster and Company was the foremost custom coachbuilder of 19th Century America. Founded in 1810, Brewster and Company began building bodies for European chassis such as Rolls Royce, Delaunay-Belleville, Fiat, and Renault in 1905. The advent of World War I and the interdiction of shipping by German U-boats on the high seas made it impossible for Brewster and Company to secure chassis from the continent, so they produced the most expensive automobile of the day bearing their name. An Inkling of Brewster examines not only the Brewster automobile, but also the wealthy who purchased them. A Brewster owner’s list reads like a “Who’s Who” of New York Society. The Rev. Frank E. Wismer III is the owner of a 1921 Brewster Double Enclosed Drive automobile that originally belonged to Mrs. H. D. Auchincloss of Hammersmith Farm, Newport Rhode Island. He has been researching Brewster and Company for the past two years and has been fortunate enough to study the Brewster and Company journals along with the correspondence of Mr. William Brewster. CH (COL) Wismer is a retired United States Army Chaplain having served in the First Gulf War, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq and Kuwait. He is the author of War in the Garden of Eden: A Chaplain’s Memoir from Baghdad. He is also the author of two meditation guides published by the Episcopal Cursillo Movement.
Download or read book King Lehr and the Gilded Age written by Elizabeth Drexel Lehr and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HARRY SYMES LEHR was born in 1869 into a family that was neither wealthy nor socially prominent. His natural gift for entertaining and his penchant for hobnobbing with the very rich earned him entry to the powerful circle of the New York and Newport social elite, where Harry clowned his way to a position of prominence. One of his admirers and patrons, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, introduced him to a young widow, Elizabeth Wharton Drexel. Elizabeth was smitten with young Harry, his elegant dress, and outrageous behavior. They were soon married. But King Lehr had a secret—he was not what he seemed. On their wedding night he cruelly dictated the rules of their strange relationship to his new bride. For twenty-three years, Mrs. Lehr protected his secret and remained in a loveless and abusive marriage. After Harry’s death Elizabeth remarried, to the Baron Decies. Lady Decies wrote down her secret story in 1938, incorporating Harry’s most intimate diaries, and told all in this scandalous tale of power, desire, and deception.
