Empty mansions: the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune

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Pub. Date:
2013
Language:
English
Description
"When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed a property listing for a grand estate that had been unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled into one of the most surprising American stories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Empty Mansions is a rich tale of wealth and loss, complete with copper barons, Gilded Age opulence, and backdoor politics. At its heart is a reclusive 104-year-old heiress named Huguette Clark. Dedman has collaborated with Huguette's cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have had frequent conversations with her, to tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter who is born into an almost royal family of amazing wealth and privilege, yet who secrets herself away from the outside world. Empty Mansions reveals a complete picture of the enigmatic Huguette Clark, heiress to one of the greatest fortunes in American history, a woman who had not been photographed in public since the 1920s. Though she owned three palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, they sat vacant while she lived out her final two decades in a New York City hospital room, despite being in excellent health. Her father was self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, who at the dawn of the twentieth century was one of the richest men in America. Huguette's inheritance afforded her untold luxury: gorgeous paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls, lavish gifts for her friends, the freedom to pursue her own work as an artist, and, most important, the privacy she valued above all else. The Clark family story takes the reader nearly the entire span of American history in just three generations. The same Huguette who held a ticket for the return trip of the Titanic was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11. In this scrupulously detailed account, we meet Huguette's extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her noble French boyfriend, the nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives seeking to inherit Huguette's $300 million fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, some never before seen, Empty Mansions is a touching story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms"--
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ISBN:
9780345534521
9780345545565
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID8886eaf0-c6f7-7ac0-124e-7f8e0905c026
Grouping Titleempty mansions the mysterious life of huguette clark and the spending of a great american fortune
Grouping Authorbill dedman
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2023-12-04 12:26:39PM
Last Indexed2023-12-04 04:08:29AM

Solr Fields

accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
auth_author2
Newell, Paul Clark, Jr
author
Dedman, Bill
author2-role
Newell, Paul Clark,Jr
author_display
Dedman, Bill
available_at_aurora
Martin Luther King Jr.
detailed_location_aurora
MLK Non-Fiction
display_description
"When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed a property listing for a grand estate that had been unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled into one of the most surprising American stories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Empty Mansions is a rich tale of wealth and loss, complete with copper barons, Gilded Age opulence, and backdoor politics. At its heart is a reclusive 104-year-old heiress named Huguette Clark. Dedman has collaborated with Huguette's cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have had frequent conversations with her, to tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter who is born into an almost royal family of amazing wealth and privilege, yet who secrets herself away from the outside world. Empty Mansions reveals a complete picture of the enigmatic Huguette Clark, heiress to one of the greatest fortunes in American history, a woman who had not been photographed in public since the 1920s. Though she owned three palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, they sat vacant while she lived out her final two decades in a New York City hospital room, despite being in excellent health. Her father was self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, who at the dawn of the twentieth century was one of the richest men in America. Huguette's inheritance afforded her untold luxury: gorgeous paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls, lavish gifts for her friends, the freedom to pursue her own work as an artist, and, most important, the privacy she valued above all else. The Clark family story takes the reader nearly the entire span of American history in just three generations. The same Huguette who held a ticket for the return trip of the Titanic was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11. In this scrupulously detailed account, we meet Huguette's extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her noble French boyfriend, the nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives seeking to inherit Huguette's $300 million fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, some never before seen, Empty Mansions is a touching story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms"--
format_aurora
Book
eBook
format_category_aurora
Books
eBook
id
8886eaf0-c6f7-7ac0-124e-7f8e0905c026
isbn
9780345534521
9780345545565
itype_aurora
Book
last_indexed
2023-12-04T11:08:29.124Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_aurora
328.73 Ded
owning_library_aurora
Aurora Public Library
owning_location_aurora
Martin Luther King Jr.
primary_isbn
9780345534521
publishDate
2013
publisher
Ballantine Books
Random House Publishing Group
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Clark, Huguette, -- 1906-2011
Clark, Huguette, -- 1906-2011 -- Family
Clark, Huguette, -- 1906-2011 -- Homes and haunts -- United States
Clark, William Andrews, -- 1839-1925 -- Family
Collectors and collecting -- United States -- Biography
Eccentrics -- United States -- Biography
Heiresses -- United States -- Biography
Mansions -- United States -- History
Recluses -- United States -- Biography
title_display
Empty mansions : the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune
title_full
Empty Mansions The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Empty mansions : the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune / Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.
title_short
Empty mansions
title_sub
the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune
topic_facet
Biography & Autobiography
Clark, Huguette
Clark, William Andrews
Collectors and collecting
Eccentrics
Family
Heiresses
History
Homes and haunts
Mansions
Nonfiction
Recluses

Solr Details Tables

item_details

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ils:.b17064636.i22419846MLK Non-Fiction328.73 Ded1falsefalseAvailableApr 19, 2023mlknf
overdrive:b39d0fa6-76b3-41f5-8059-73749a0cc466-1Online OverDrive CollectionOnline OverDriveeBookeBook1falsetrueOverDriveAvailable Online

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
ils:.b17064636BookBooksFirst editionEnglishBallantine Books2013xxviii, 456 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
overdrive:b39d0fa6-76b3-41f5-8059-73749a0cc466eBookeBookEnglishRandom House Publishing Group2013

scoping_details_aurora

Bib IdItem IdGrouped StatusStatusLocally OwnedAvailableHoldableBookableIn Library Use OnlyLibrary OwnedHoldable PTypesBookable PTypesLocal Url
ils:.b17064636.i22419846On ShelfAvailablefalsetruetruefalsefalsetrue0, 1, 3, 4, 20, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11
overdrive:b39d0fa6-76b3-41f5-8059-73749a0cc466-1Available OnlineAvailable Onlinefalsetruetruefalsefalsefalse