A story which the tabloids and the papers ate up and reported in their front pages and headlines. In this beautifully written and thoroughly researched biography, Meryl Gordon tells us the story of one of the most influential philanthropists in New York, who later in life until her last years was caught in the middle of the scandal of the century, a family feud between her only son Marshall, her society friends, and her grandchildren. Her name elicited fear and respect - a name that conjures up images of the Gilded Age–palatial summer cottages in Newport, masquerade parties, European crowned heads and titled aristocrats hobnobbing with American heiresses and billionaire tycoons, old money and parvenus socializing and mingling away at lavish dinner parties and debutante balls all throughout the night.

She was the grande dame of New York’s high society, a philanthropist, a patroness of the arts, a fixture in the American, European, and international social circuit, and has used her fame and fortune aggressively to advance her social and charitable causes. When her husband died, she inherited a famous name and hundreds of millions worth of assets and the Vincent Astor Foundation. The book is about the life of Brooke Astor, the wife of multimillionaire and heir to the vast Astor fortune, Vincent Astor, whose uncle John Jacob Astor, drowned together with the most famous ship in the world, The Titanic. I bought the hardcover cover and read it in just two days. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family on Amazon last year, I knew from the very start that I had to get it. Here is an American epic of the bonds of money, morality, and social position.When I saw Mrs. Even in this territory of privilege, no riches can put things right once they ve been torn asunder. This powerful, poignant saga takes the reader inside the gilded gates of an American dynasty to tell of three generations worth of longing and missed opportunities. The result is the behind-the-headlines story of the Astor empire s unraveling, filled with never-before-reported scenes. New York journalist Meryl Gordon has interviewed not only the elite of Brooke Astor s social circle, but also the large staff who cosseted and cared for Mrs.

Rarely has there been a story with such an appealing heroine, conjuring up a world so nearly forgotten: a realm of lavish wealth and secrets of the sort that have engaged Americans from the era of Edith Wharton to the more recent days of Truman Capote and Vanity Fair. Astor s only child, was indicted on charges of looting her estate. And shortly after her death in 2007, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. The fate of Brooke Astor, the endearing philanthropist with the storied name, has generated worldwide headlines since her grandson Philip sued his father in 2006, alleging mistreatment of Brooke. A riveting look behind the gates of the house of Astor as a famous family falls apart in public

Mrs astor regrets by meryl gordon