Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age
So my one hour of reading a day didn't fare so well with this selection. Way back when, as a Masters student in British History, I did a thesis on the first Conservative Women in the House of Commons (1919-1939), of which Nancy Astor was the very first. I wasn't a good historian, and it wasn't a particularly good thesis. (The core of my argument was such: There were these women, you know, and they were conservative, and they happened to be in the House of Commons.)
Nevertheless, Lady Astor was a dynamic character. I chose this book because while I knew all about Lady Astor, I never really have known very much about the famous Astor family, and I thought I should rectify that. Also, it was in the remainders section for $4.99.
So now I know way too much about the Astors, and even more about their New York hotels. There are entire chapters in here devoted to their luxury hotels. This isn't at all a bad book. It's just that I didn't really care. I like biographies, but biographies of families tend to lose me. There were five John Jacob Astors, several Williams, and a couple of Waldorfs on the side. I confess I started to mix them all up. Besides, my Lady Astor, who married into the family, is only mentioned on five pages.
I'm also not surprised that I fell off the reading wagon the moment I started reading a book related to what I was studying during my year in graduate school. After that year, I was so tired of history that for a few years I couldn't even watch the History Channel, never mind read history.
The portrait of Lady Astor is by John Singer Sargent, via Wikipedia.
So my one hour of reading a day didn't fare so well with this selection. Way back when, as a Masters student in British History, I did a thesis on the first Conservative Women in the House of Commons (1919-1939), of which Nancy Astor was the very first. I wasn't a good historian, and it wasn't a particularly good thesis. (The core of my argument was such: There were these women, you know, and they were conservative, and they happened to be in the House of Commons.)
Nevertheless, Lady Astor was a dynamic character. I chose this book because while I knew all about Lady Astor, I never really have known very much about the famous Astor family, and I thought I should rectify that. Also, it was in the remainders section for $4.99.
So now I know way too much about the Astors, and even more about their New York hotels. There are entire chapters in here devoted to their luxury hotels. This isn't at all a bad book. It's just that I didn't really care. I like biographies, but biographies of families tend to lose me. There were five John Jacob Astors, several Williams, and a couple of Waldorfs on the side. I confess I started to mix them all up. Besides, my Lady Astor, who married into the family, is only mentioned on five pages.
I'm also not surprised that I fell off the reading wagon the moment I started reading a book related to what I was studying during my year in graduate school. After that year, I was so tired of history that for a few years I couldn't even watch the History Channel, never mind read history.
The portrait of Lady Astor is by John Singer Sargent, via Wikipedia.
