Summary of Meryl Gordon's Mrs. Astor Regrets

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 After a lifetime of being an accessory to men, Brooke Astor hungered for meaningful work and the chance to be valued on her own merits. She became a philanthropist and a social arbiter. Her ability to dispense millions made her popular and powerful.
#2 Mrs. Astor was very loyal to her inner circle, but she did have a habit of moving on, replacing dour faces with young and frisky newcomers. She was determined to have younger friends because she thought it was life-giving.
#3 The relationship between the women had changed over the past decade, as the preternaturally energetic Brooke began showing her age. Annette had become Brooke's defender and protector, attentive and thoughtful, ever eager to please.
#4 The New York Times treated Brooke Astor's birthdays with the civic reverence granted to holidays on which alternate-side-of-the-street parking is suspended. Every year, the event was commemorated with a story or a photograph.

Sujets

• Rich & Famous

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 22 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669357872
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Meryl Gordon's Mrs. Astor Regrets
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

After a lifetime of being an accessory to men, Brooke Astor hungered for meaningful work and the chance to be valued on her own merits. She became a philanthropist and a social arbiter. Her ability to dispense millions made her popular and powerful.

#2

Mrs. Astor was very loyal to her inner circle, but she did have a habit of moving on, replacing dour faces with young and frisky newcomers. She was determined to have younger friends because she thought it was life-giving.

#3

The relationship between the women had changed over the past decade, as the preternaturally energetic Brooke began showing her age. Annette had become Brooke's defender and protector, attentive and thoughtful, ever eager to please.

#4

The New York Times treated Brooke Astor's birthdays with the civic reverence granted to holidays on which alternate-side-of-the-street parking is suspended. Every year, the event was commemorated with a story or a photograph.

#5

Brooke was extremely popular and had many friends, both male and female. She was extremely flirtatious, and it did not matter whether the men were straight, gay, married, or many decades younger.

#6

After 23 years with the Astor Foundation, Linda Gillies was fired when Brooke Astor decided to give away its assets and dissolve the foundation. The axis of their relationship shifted, and Gillies was never invited to any of Brooke’s parties again.

#7

At an age when most people are healthy or at the very least ambulatory, Brooke Astor was still in high society and had just hired a new social secretary, Naomi Dunn Packard-Koot, a blond and lithe Princeton graduate then in her early thirties.

#8

Mrs. Astor was a master of public relations, and she used the press to publicize her causes. She had a lifelong ability to rise to the occasion, and she appeared in perfect command that week in an interview conducted over afternoon tea at her apartment with Alex Kuczynski of the New York Times.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Tony Marshall had a secret that was troubling him in the weeks leading up to his mother's one hundredth birthday. Brooke Astor had begun behaving erratically in recent years, from getting lost on her property to lashing out with displays of temper and frustration that were out of character.

#2

On the day of the party, March 30, 2002, the Times contacted Tony. He was tired of talking about his mother, and was nervous about letting his secret slip. He never talked about his own accomplishments, and sometimes his frustration showed.

#3

Brooke had never been fond of either of her son’s two wives, and she had particularly taken umbrage with Charlene. She knew that all eyes would be upon her tonight, and she was in a nervous state.

#4

At Kykuit, the estate owned by John D. Rockefeller, a group of friends gathered to celebrate the life of Brooke Astor. She had been a wisp of a woman, but she had been a towering influence on the lives of her friends.

#5

Mrs. Astor was very loyal to the white-shoe firm of Sullivan Cromwell, which had handled her legal affairs since 1959. She had assets of $120 million plus a charitable trust worth more than $60 million. She often dropped hints about her decisions, but only Christensen, her son, and her daughter-in-law were aware of the details.

#6

The party was being watched by two men who had not grown up in the Astor family’s world. Philip and Alec Marshall, who had been left with their mother when their parents divorced, met a few of the guests before.

#7

The Marshall twins were not rich, but they were not poor either. Their grandmother, Brooke, was extremely generous with her money, but she also wanted her grandsons to be self-sufficient.

#8

Brooke was extremely protective of her husband, and she radiated happiness despite her frailty. She was extremely proud of her grandsons, and she took great pleasure in being attractive.

#9

At the birthday party, Tony Marshall prepared a formal speech and memorized his lines. He began by saying, I am not my mother's only child. There was Freddy, and Sandy, and Daisy, and Siegfried. His dry wit softened his reserved demeanor.

#10

The party was a celebration of Brooke Astor's life and legacy. She was a pre-eminent figure in society, but her social circle was shrinking. Her friends wondered if they had seen the last of Brooke Astor, the epitome of society.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

The relationship between Philip and his father had been on a downward slide for quite some time. They had hardly spoken to one another during the trip to Maine in 2001, and Philip had begun to despair about making things right.

#2

In late 2006, New York was hit with a heat wave. The Astors’ apartment lacked central air-conditioning, so their nurses were confined to a few air-conditioned rooms. Tony and Charlene Marshall, however, had decamped to Northeast Harbor to spend the summer.

#3

Tony and Charlene had flourished in new careers as Broadway investors, producing two Tony Award-winning plays.