Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt

This summer The History Chicks did an episode titled Gilded Age Heiresses.  It was so so so interesting to me.  People with more money than they knew what to do with, the struggle for social power, etc.  I really enjoyed listening to it.  One of the books they recommended that I was interested in reading was Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart.

And as luck would have it, the book was in the personal library of Mrs. BBWP and I have a library card for there.

This was such a remarkable story.  Strong controlling mother, Alva, dictating as much of her daughter's life as possible. Even to the point of arranging her marriage into British nobility, because surely it's a mother's duty to pick her child's spouse.  indeed.  Plus, the story of what happened AFTER the wedding.  The book chronicles both women's lives from birth to death with a lot of historical context.

Here's the text from the back of the book:

When Consuelo Vanderbilt's grandfather died, he was the richest man in American. Her father soon started to spend the family fortune,m enthusiastically supported by Consuelo's mother, Alva, who was determined to take the family to the top of New York society - forcing a heartbroken Consuelo into a marriage she did not want with the underfunded Duke of Marlborough. But the story of Consuelo and Alva is more than a take of enterprising social ambition, Gilded Age glamour, and the emptiness of wealth.  It is a fascinating account of two extraordinary women who struggled to break free from the world into which they were born -  a world of materialist concerns and shallow elitism in which females were voiceless and powerless - and their lifelong dedication to noble and dangerous causes and the battle for women's rights.

Yes, that is much better than I could have said it.  It's definitely worth your time if this subject is anything you're interested in.

Voices from Chernobyl

I'm not any kind of history know it all, but I do enjoy learning about history.

(slight tangent: my favorite history source right now is The History Chicks. Check them out. subscribe to their podcast and visit their website)

Anyway, back on task. I know enough about history that I can answer a Jeopardy category on most history topics, but that's about it. And my Husband has a BA in History and Political Science and BBWP has an MA in history. So, I'd like to know more.

Recently, Husband has been checking out more nonfiction books out of the library that he thinks I'll enjoy and Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster is the latest one. I actually heard about this one on a recent episode of This American Life and mentioned it'd be a book I'd enjoy digging in to. Weeks later, Husband picked it up.

And I guess enjoy is certainly the wrong word. There was nothing enjoyable about this book. It was hard and dirty and sad and pitiful. But also so moving and powerful.

Before reading this book, all I really knew about Chernobyl was that in April of 1986, a nuclear reactor blew and caused massive amounts of radiation to escape. And really, that's all you need to know to appreciate the book.

Ten years later Svetlana Alexievich started interviewing first responders, their families, evacuees, soldiers called in to help with the "clean up," journalists, teachers, pretty much anyone that would talk to her that had their life impacted due to the explosion and its aftermath.

The stories are so gripping, and moving and sorrowful. By far my two favorite stories are the first and final ones. They are both told by wives who lost their husbands. These were the ones that I reacted to the most, that pulled my heart and made me cry. Probably because I am a wife and have a fear that my husband will die. And these women told their stories so bravely and nakedly.

Anyway, I recommend this book if you're into history and nonfictions. It really is a story that deserves to be remembered.