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Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance (2012)

by Jean Zimmerman(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0151014477 (ISBN13: 9780151014477)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: Using the striking Sargent double portrait as a point of departure, Zimmerman, an expert in New York City history, examines the marriage of two Gilded Age golden people--wealthy from birth, well-educated, steeped in the intermarried culture of progressive-minded do-gooders and related to anyone who was anyone in New England. The couple used their advantages positively, she running the New York Kindergarten League and heading many causes for women and children, he by championing housing reform and designing alternatives to the disastrous "dumb-bell" tenements through his architecture firm. In later years, he became consumed by collecting, using his connections in society to convince hundreds of wealthy antiquarians to loan him maps and prints for reproduction in his six-v... moreolume Iconography of New York City, saving material that would shortly be lost in the fire that destroyed the Albany State Archives or sold off into private collections. Zimmerman does well in showing a marriage that was cutting edge in its companionate nature and the modern ideas of the spouses (as seen so glowingly in the portrait), but almost entirely abandons the story to a hasty conclusion as things get interesting in the 1920s. Clearly the pair adapted to the new post-WWI America, even to the post-1929 world that made them comfortably rich rather than spectacularly rich, and their adopted daughter lived in the world of New Women pioneered by her mother, but this is not explored at all, and that is too bad, because things were just getting really interesting.
review 2: I am wondering if the same person who wrote this book wrote the title? It was titled "Love, Fiercely-A Gilded Age Romance" There was very little romance in this book. The first third of the book spoke about Edith Minturn, her growing up, and her posing for the statue "Columbia" for a world exposition. There is no relationship with her future husband until half way through the book. The next chunk of the book went on and on about how Miss Minturn (Mrs.Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes) had her portrait (with husband in the backround)painted by John Singer Sargent, and how ground breaking this painting was. The largest chunk of this book was about Mr. Stokes lifetime obsession/project of writing and showing with old plats and maps of the history of the island of Manhattan, New York (Iconography). This book did show how the rich lived in this age after the Civil War. I learned about their life style, but learned very little about them as people, much less the romance claimed in the title. I typically enjoy biographies, but this falls really flat. What little was written about them personally showed no romance or even personality or interaction of the two. I was in the mood for a real life romance and was very disappointed. Maybe if you are from New York City or really love this city, it might be of interest to you, but otherwise, skip this book. less

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