The Last Mrs. Astor
Brooke Astor, a great lady and a great benefactress to the City of New York died yesterday at age 105. Mrs. Astor is reported to have once said she wanted her headstone to read "I had a wonderful life". She certainly had a remarkable one. The thrice-married Mrs. Astor was the belle of New York society and the salvation of many of its cultural institutions including The New York Public Library. Check out The Last Mrs. Astor to read more about this "aristocrat of the people".
Another book about the Astors, Justin Kaplan's When the Astors Owned New York gives a vivid portrait of the "gilded age" Astors and their impact--they put the 'grand' into grand hotel.