What I am reading - Astors

So apparently I am on a 'Gilded Age' quest.  After reading about the Vanderbilts I headed to the library to look for books about this time period. Up came a boatload of books about the Astors. None of them were in our library current rotation so I clicked 'order' on a few of them.

Much to my surprise ALL of them came. I looked like I was writing an essay as I checked them out. The librarian said "oh we are into Non Fiction are we? Doing a research project?"  What could I say?

Apparently I am this week, I smiled sweetly.

I had no clue where to start or which one to read. Some of them definitely have that 'old library' smell to them and some are newer.

I decided to start with When the Astors Owned New York, by Justin Kaplan

It really goes back. Allllll the way back. There are  a lot of details. A lot of names. A lot of 'begats'.

But once I let go of that incessant need to really understand all of that, I started to be able to relax enough to start to enjoy it.

It really is incredible how much wealth was amassed in such a short period of time. A lot of foresight about the future of New York. A lot of excess. And not a lot of understanding of what truly makes people happy. As I read it, I never really got a sense of any of them truly being happy. 

I read as the first big hotel was built in New York City. The best, the biggest, the most excessive...and then torn down about 60 years later. 

I got this sense of  them never being satisfied.

I guess money doesn't really buy happiness.