Customer Reviews

High Peaks

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For three generations, my family worked on Mr. Whitney's farm in central Kentucky. I read this book when it was first released while working as a young teen on the farm. I was fascinated by the influence this man had on Americana...Pan Am, Gone With the Wind, the Lincoln Tunnel to name a few.

I wish kids were required to read this kind of factual and historic record instead of the liberal drivel being forced down their throats in the government school system.

True freedom is only realized by Christian conservatives.

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was the son of Harry Payne Whitney and Gertrude Vanderbilt of New York and Aiken, SC, and the maternal great-grandson of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt. The style of his autobiography - avoiding the minutiae of life and focusing upon the "high peaks" - makes for an interesting read on a very interesting character, without any boring side trips. Unlike his Vanderbilt progenitors, C.V. acted behind the scenes in his efforts to spend and accumulate wealth, and give military service to his country. His public image confined itself to the area of horse breeding & racing, for the most part. Historically, he is depicted as a victim of severe depression, subject to wild mood swings, not evident at all in his writing, and based on his accomplishments, a very questionable portrayal. His life really marks the last stage of the decline of the Vanderbilt dynasty and would naturally whet ones' appetite to read further into the earlier years of this remarkable family.