Vanderbilt: the rise and fall of an American dynasty, by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

 

I enjoyed this part-history, part-memoir by CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, also known as the youngest son of Gloria Vanderbilt of the Gilded Age Vanderbilts, and descendant of  Cornelius Vanderbilt who built a shipping and railroad empire in the 19th century. Cooper didn't try to tell the whole story of the family and all of its branches; instead, he focuses his sights on only a few of the individuals across the generations, ending with his mother's story. While I was expecting something more gossipy, I was pleased to see the historical approach taken by Cooper and his co-author; it's apparent that they did a fair amount of research and digging into family and news archives. Toward the end of the book it becomes less formal and more chatty as Cooper discusses his mother and her relationships with friends like Truman Capote. This was my book club's March selection, and I think we all liked it.