Social Climber: The Iron Will and Determined Rise of Alva Vanderbilt

Published: March 15, 2022, 3:55 a.m.

The fight for social dominance and acceptance was a battle fought by many Gilded Age wives along with their financial warrior husbands. One of the most famous was Alva Vanderbilt who rose to finally make it through the golden portals into Mrs. Astor's social circle. Her iron determination resulted in her daughter Consuelo's seemingly fairytale marriage to a British aristocrat in 1895 - but none of it was a fairytale.