VANDERBILT The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

The well-known Emmy-winning journalist Anderson Cooper, who is the great-great-great-grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, offers a workmanlike narration of his well-researched history of the Vanderbilt family. Written with historian Katherine Howe, the story details family excesses over the years that all but entirely depleted their fortune. Cooper exhibits a pastiche, both in his words and performance, of family adoration and respect, along with significant contempt for the vast sums of money squandered on mansions, estates, and various other exhibitions of conspicuous consumption. Greater emotional range in the narration would have benefitted the effort as a whole. Significant time is also spent on similar behavior on the part of Anderson's mother, Gloria Vanderbilt. An accompanying pdf shows the family tree, along with a detailed bibliography. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2021]