Mrs. Astor's New York
Mrs. Astor's New York

Author: Eric Homberger

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2004-09-01

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9780300105155

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Mrs Astor, queen of New York society in the decades before World War I, used her prestige to create a social aristocracy in the city. Mrs Astor's story, told here by Eric Homberger, sheds light on the origins, extravagant lifestyle, and social competitiveness of this aristocracy.

Andrew Carnegie Speaks to the 1%
Andrew Carnegie Speaks to the 1%

Author: Andrew Carnegie

Publisher: Gray Rabbit Publishing

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 9781515400387

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Before the 99% occupied Wall Street... Before the concept of social justice had impinged on the social conscience... Before the social safety net had even been conceived... By the turn of the 20th Century, the era of the robber barons, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) had already accumulated a staggeringly large fortune; he was one of the wealthiest people on the globe. He guaranteed his position as one of the wealthiest men ever when he sold his steel business to create the United States Steel Corporation. Following that sale, he spent his last 18 years, he gave away nearly 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. His charitable efforts actually started far earlier. At the age of 33, he wrote a memo to himself, noting ..".The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money." In 1881, he gave a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1889, he spelled out his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society, in an article called "The Gospel of Wealth" this book. Carnegie writes that the best way of dealing with wealth inequality is for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Though written more than a century ago, Carnegie's words still ring true today, urging a better, more equitable world through greater social consciousness.

Notorious Woman
Notorious Woman

Author: Elizabeth Urban Alexander

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2004-10-01

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 0807130249

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The legal crusade of Myra Clark Gaines (1804?--1885) has all the trappings of classic melodrama -- a lost heir, a missing will, an illicit relationship, a questionable marriage, a bigamous husband, and a murder. For a half century the daughter of New Orleans millionaire Daniel Clark struggled to justify her claim to his enormous fortune in a case that captivated the nineteenth-century public. Elizabeth Urban Alexander taps voluminous court records and letters to unravel the twists and turns of Gaines's litigation and reveal the truth behind the mysterious saga of this notorious woman. Myra, the daughter of real estate heir Clark and Zulime Carrière, a beautiful young Frenchwoman, was raised by friends of Clark and kept ignorant of her real parentage until 1832, when she discovered her true lineage in letters among her foster father's papers. She thereupon returned to Louisiana with tales of a lost will and a secret marriage between Clark and Carrière and claimed to be Clark's missing heir. Was Myra the legitimate daughter of the prominent merchant or the "fruit of an adulterous union?" The courts would decide. The Great Gaines Case wound its tortuous path through the United States legal system from 1834 until 1891. It was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court seventeen times and pursued even after Gaines's death by lawyers trying to recoup fees. By courageously bringing her case to the courtroom and doggedly keeping it there, Alexander asserts, Gaines helped instigate a new type of family law that provided special protection of women, children, and marriages. Though Gaines never recovered more than a tiny fraction of the rumored millions, this riveting chronicle of her struggle for legitimacy and legacy as told by Elizabeth Urban Alexander is a gold mine for anyone interested in legal history, women's studies, or a good yarn superbly spun.

Wealth and The Wealthy in the Modern World
Wealth and The Wealthy in the Modern World

Author: W.D. Rubinstein

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-01-01

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 100385432X

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First published in 1980, Wealth and The Wealthy in the Modern World looks at the careers of the very wealthy and the extent of wealth-holding and wealth distribution in the major Western nations since the Industrial Revolution. Each essay examines how wealth was created, controlled and maintained in each country. It also considers the relationship between wealthy persons and the rest of society and the divisions amongst the wealthy class. Social mobility into top wealth and income brackets is also discussed, as are the idiosyncratic features of wealth-holding in each society. Together these essays provide a broad, yet detailed portrait of a social class which has had extraordinary influence on shaping the social history of the Western world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This book will be of interest to students of economics, political science, and development studies.

The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age
The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age

Author: Arnold Lewis

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2016-06-23

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0486319474

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Best source of information and illustrations for private houses in Eastern cities during the early 1880s. Rare photographs of mansions belonging to Vanderbilt, Morgan, Grant, and many others. Extensive, informative new text.