January Not Fiction Book Discussions

We begin the year's discussions with The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home by Denise Kiernan, a history of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, that is also a sweeping narrative of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of "the first tycoon," Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, used his inherited fortune to travel, collect art, and ultimately build a lavish home in rural North Carolina, employing the most celebrated architects and landscape designers of his time, to showcase his collection. As a result of world events, personal financial decisions, and changes in tax law, in just three generations, George's portion of the Commodore's fortune had been reduced enough to make Biltmore more of a liability than an asset to his heirs. His wife, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser Vanderbilt, emerges as the real heroine of the story of Biltmore, for it is her social responsibility and careful management that made Biltmore a lasting contribution to the Asheville community, to forestry and conservation, and to her family.

What do you think? Kiernan writes that “[w]alking the halls of Biltmore House for a day is a journey back in time” (p. 297). Have you ever visited Biltmore? If not, visit Biltmore’s official website at Biltmore.com and take a virtual tour of the estate through the site’s photo gallery. She also writes that Biltmore “may not have been in New York or Newport, but if this house didn’t make an impression on the Four Hundred, nothing would, acorns or no.” (p. 66). Is there anything about the house and the grounds that you find particularly striking? If so, what? Have your thoughts and feelings about the house changed as a result of reading The Last Castle? If so, how? Discuss the intentions and feelings George, Edith, and Cornelia each had for Biltmore, as well as the estate's effect on the region socially and economically. During the Gilded Age, being “a son of the Vanderbilt dynasty was to have your every move, dalliance, chance encounter, and passing venture watched and analyzed” (p. 7-8). Why do you think the public is so interested in the lives of the Vanderbilt family? Discuss the impact the constant public scrutiny has on the behavior of members of the Vanderbilt family. Can you think of any modern equivalents that are scrutinized in the same way the Vanderbilt family was in their time? Kiernan mentions many popular and enduring works of fiction from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Have you read any of these novels? Kiernan also integrates world history, including two World Wars and the financial crisis of 1929, into the story of Biltmore. How do these references help you understand the story of the Vanderbilts and Biltmore House? In 1873, Mark Twain and coauthor Charles Dudley Warner wrote a book about the age of excess in which they lived titled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Do you think “Gilded Age” is an appropriate title for the time? If so, why? Do you see any comparisons to today’s economy and culture?

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, January 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, January 17, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog. And if you haven't already, take a look at the list of titles and dates for this year''s discussions. What connections will you discover?