The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story [Hardcover]

Frances Kiernan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2007

The fabulous life of Brooke Astor, a pioneer of philanthropy and for decades a luminary of New York society.

Hers is a story out of Edith Wharton. After a disastrous early marriage, Brooke Astor wedded the notoriously ill-tempered Vincent Astor, who died in 1959. In a highly publicized courtroom battle, Brooke fought off an attempt to break Vincent's will, which left some $67 million to the Vincent Astor Foundation. As the foundation's president, Brooke would use this legacy to benefit New York, where the Astor fortune had been made.

Brooke would personally visit each grant applicant and charm anyone she met. At her one-hundredth birthday, princes and presidents honored her, but in 2006 a grandson petitioned the courts to have his father removed as Brooke's guardian. Once again an Astor court battle became the stuff of headlines. This biography—based on firsthand knowledge and interviews with Brooke's friends and the heads of New York's great cultural institutions—gives us back the woman so loved and admired, whose hands-on approach would inspire future philanthropists. 16 pages of photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Until last summer's reports that Brooke Astor's son was keeping her on a shoestring budget in her Manhattan apartment, the widow of millionaire Vincent Astor was known as a society maven who doled out money to worthy causes. But in this enjoyable and flattering biography, former New Yorker editor Kiernan, who knows Mrs. Astor personally, describes how the thrice-married woman was raised to be charming and agreeable, and learned her lessons well. Kiernan finds some detractors, who saw Astor's charm as manipulative and her agreeable nature as sugarcoating on a single-minded determination to advance her status. But even the negative comments have a positive spin. Responding to the theory that Astor married the ill-tempered and reclusive Vincent for money, Louis Auchincloss said, "I wouldn't respect her if she hadn't. Only a twisted person would have married him for love." Then again, it was an odd pairing, and not just because the matchmaker was Vincent's then-second wife, who allegedly wanted out and believed the way to obtain a generous settlement was to find "a suitable replacement." Tidbits like these add zip to Kiernan's affectionate portrait of the poet and writer who really made her mark when she took over her husband's philanthropic foundation. A portrait of the grande dame in decline, manipulated by her son is a poignant end to a grand saga. 16 pages of photos. (May 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

A former editor at The New Yorker, Frances Kiernan is the author of Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy. She lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1ST edition (May 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393057208
• ISBN-13: 978-0393057201
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mrs. Astor's Interesting Life, August 20, 2007

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story (Hardcover)

This is a good exercise in biography that goes just far enough in celebrating its subject without spilling over into fawning. Mrs. Astor lived an amazing life, from a girlhood spent trailing along with her Marine officer father and overachieving socialite mother to Central America and beyond, to multiple marriages, to her becoming, as the widow of Vincent Astor, the chair of the Astor Foundation, through which this "First Lady of New York" oversaw the investment (never charity) of millions into various people and projects. Mrs. Astor was a bright spirit whose recent passing at the age of 105 brought to an end an era that began in the days of the Manhattan society's fabled 400. Dealing appropriately and I think fairly with the dismal topic of the legal war that went on in the last several years between various Astor relations contesting one against the other the disposal and ownership of various Astor possessions, author Frances Kiernan also handled with delicacy the matter of whether or not Brooke Astor, who had done much for many, was herself receiving adequate care near her life's conclusion. I hope a future edition of this biography includes one more chapter that covers the period between the publication of its first edition and Mrs. Astor's actual passing this month. This biography of Brooke Astor is not only the tale of an extraordinary woman, but the story of a century's worth of people and events. It's a worthy investment of money and time.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Breezy biography of a woman and the family she married into, August 13, 2007

By 

L.E. Page (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story (Hardcover)

Let's start by saying this isn't the definitive biography of Brooke Astor. I got the impression that it was written by a friend of a friend of Mrs. Astor's so there isn't a pretense to impartiality.

And if you have been a resident of New York and already inhabit the upper eschelons of that city's society, then there is probably very little for you to learn from this book.

But for those of us outside the NY upper crust, the book is an interesting look at Mrs. Astor's background prior to her marriage into the well-known Astor family. It also spends a decent amount of print explaining some of the projects Mrs. Astor supported through the Astor Foundation. If you happen to work with any non-profit organizations or civic groups, you'll be interested to learn how Mrs. Astor asked people much wealthier than herself for money and how she got them to contribute to her causes.

There is also a fair amount of information about the Astor family. And while there aren't any real skeletons revealed, it is a pretty broad history. The author also discusses the recent custody case over Mrs. Astor and the players involved.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stick with it....., June 2, 2007

By 

V. Edge "Dallas Reader" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story (Hardcover)

I began to truly enjoy the book at its midpoint. At first, I found the author's writing style cumbersome, awkward, & difficult to understand. I put the book aside for a week & picked it up again determined to wade through it. Stick with it...it's a good story of a strong woman & a wonderful portrait of a past era. Initially, I was annoyed at the many references Kiernan made to "Footprints" & "Patchwork Child"...occasional references are understandable, but this was overdone.