Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt

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.

This book traces the careers of the men and women who bred the most outstanding Thoroughbreds of the 20th century.

"This is a history 'of the disaster and aftermath, drawing on first-person accounts and solid secondary sources.'" Libr J.

Captain Isaac "Ike" Emerson, riding high on the international success of his patent, Bromo-Seltzer, lived a storied life of opulence. This first biography of the "Bromo-Seltzer King" traces his path from North Carolina farm boy to Baltimore-based multimillionaire with a penchant for lavish entertaining. Emerson is presented as an entrepreneur, patriot, civic leader, sportsman, and philanthropist. He was a phenom in his era, and this book, drawing from archival records, newspapers of the day, and interviews with descendants, details the ups and downs of his complex and indulgent life.

Great Camp Sagamore was built by William West Durant and bought by Alfred Vanderbilt in 1901 to be his family's Adirondack retreat. Vanderbilt and his wife, Margaret, welcomed family and friends, who enjoyed its sprawling grounds and buildings for decades. After Margaret's death, though, the camp changed hands and began to decline until it was rescued by preservationists and then became a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Today, visitors to the camp participate in maintaining its grandeur, learning about and preserving the past. Read the remarkable story of one of the most unique places in the Adirondacks, written by Sagamore's director, Beverly Bridger.

At The Plaza is a pictorial record and an anecdotal history of the world's most famous hotel: New York's Plaza. As a story, it traverses the breadth and scope of Gotham's high society during the American Century. As a photo collection, it's like no other, capturing the hotel's remarkable presence on the ever-changing New York scene. For almost one hundred years, The Plaza has mirrored the social history of Manhattan: its tastes in design, entertainment, restaurants and accommodations, as well as its adjustment to Prohibition, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, women's rights, smokers' rights, animals' rights and British rock-and-roll. The first guests to sign the register-Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt-set the standard for the long procession of luminaries that followed: Mark Twain, Diamond Jim Brady, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Beatles, among many others. In At The Plaza, the hotel's official historian, Curtis Gathje, has compiled a tremendous collection of photographs and vignettes chronicling the colorful history of a building, an institution, and a city.