astor family

"In this historical biography, featuring black-and-white and color photographs, Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe chronicle the lives of the Astors and offer a window onto the making of America itself"--Provided by publisher.

Discusses the members of five generations of the Astor family, from John Jacob Astor's arrival in America in 1783 to the present.

Alexandra Aldrich offers her own words about growing up in poverty and yet living in a mansion on over four hundred acres of property--her father, the owner of Rokeby mansion, inherited the land, but not the fortune, of the Astor family. Aldrich explains how she managed to educate herself and find happiness in such a home, until her father began cheating on her mother, and how she escaped the Astor house.