From a German immigrant who arrived in America with nothing to a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, the Astor family’s story is one of hard work, ruthless business tactics, snobbery, and savvy ...

Astor Place. The Waldorf-Astoria. Even if you're not a New Yorker, you've heard of these iconic places. You also probably know they're named for one very powerful family: the Astors. To this day ...

Tall, lean and mustachioed John Jacob Astor IV wanted to accompany her in Lifeboat 4, but his apogeal social status and family fortune — born of the fur trade, then turbocharged by New York real ...

This National Geographic book is much more than a coffee table tome, although you could easily spend hours just poring over the photographs: black-and-white reproductions from Shackleton’s voyage, and ...