Summary of Justin Kaplan's When the Astors Owned New York

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Justin Kaplan's When the Astors Owned New York in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Endowed with the largest private fortunes of their day, cousins John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor vied for primacy in New York society, producing the grandest hotels ever seen in a marriage of ostentation and efficiency that transformed American social behavior.

Kaplan exposes it all in exquisite detail, taking readers from the 1890s to the Roaring Twenties in a combination of biography, history, architectural appreciation, and pure reading pleasure

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781952482922

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Justin Kaplan's When the Astors Owned New York

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 1

#1

John Jacob Astor was an American businessman who founded the Astor family fortune by establishing trading posts along the Pacific coast. He eventually tried to create a commercial empire based in the Pacific Northwest, but his plan was thwarted by incompetent subordinates, Indian treachery, the War of 1812, and bad weather.

#2

The Astor family were among the richest in New York, and John Jacob Astor IV was no different. He had so much money he didn’t know what to do with it all, so he began buying property in Manhattan.

#3

The Astor family were among the original landlords in New York City, and John Jacob Astor was among the city's first millionaires. He was also the oldest person to die in 1848, at the age of 84.

#4

John Jacob Astor, the second