Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 920 EAN: 9780060542573 ISBN: 0060542578 Label: Harper Perennial Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: 2005-11-01 Publisher: Harper Perennial Release Date: 2005-11-01 Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Reviews: When J. P. Morgan called a meeting of New York's financial leaders after the stock market crash of 1907, Hetty Green was the only woman in the room. The Guinness Book of World Records memorialized her as the World's Greatest Miser, and, indeed, this unlikely robber baron -- who parlayed a comfortable inheritance into a fortune that was worth about 1.6 billion in today's dollars -- was frugal to a fault. But in an age when women weren't even allowed to vote, never mind concern themselves with interest rates, she lived by her own rules. In Hetty, Charles Slack reexamines her life and legacy, giving us, at long last, a splendidly "nuanced portrait" (Newsweek) of one of the greatest -- and most eccentric -- financiers in American history. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Clunky Choppy Bio Comment: Hetty Green is a name you never hear much when discussions of bailouts and bank failures and billionaires are brought to the table. Yet she lived in a time that is not so very different from today, where Warren Buffet and George Soros are "the names" in finance. Was she something more than a miser or a weirdo? Did she make an impact on American society? The answer to both questions is No, sadly. The writer of this biography lays out his research for the reader in the manner of a student's clumsy research paper, detached and objective, but unable to presume an understanding of his subject nor able to feel won over by it (or her) at the same time. The writing contains odd phrasings such as, "Her words did not escape the eyes of Miss Mary Irene Hoyt." Eyes? Ears would have been the better word. "The newspapers fairly licked their lips." Newspapers have lips? Better would have been the phrase "newspaper journalists": they do have lips. The writer appears to have been hardpressed to come up with felicitous or literary phrasings, dramatic build-ups, narrative drives while his research cards lay in chronological order before him at the writing table. Hetty Green lived to keep the money she inherited in the family. Her aim was so Quaker-keen, she was able to keep to her word, leaving her large fortune to her two childless adult children, but they willed it all away when they died, there being no family members left to enjoy the immense fortune once so craftily protected. In one generation then, Hetty Green's entire fortune disappeared. This book presents the "idea" of Hetty Green well enough but without actually allowing the reader to feel truly in touch with her spirit or her psychology or her drive or her genius. Perhaps America's first female tycoon was just too queer for thorough acquaintance. Thank goodness then that the book is only 226 pages. Customer Rating: Summary: FEMINIST RE-TELLING OF A MISER'S LIFE Comment: Hetty Green was known ,during her lifetime,as "the witch of Wall Street"and with good reason..She was among the most wealthy people of her time,and her cheapness made Ebeneezer Scrooge look like a spendthrift..At the least,Scrooge is redeemed at the end of"A Christmas Carol"while Green remained an incredible miser until the very moment that she died... Hetty Green came from wealth,but wealth contaminated by 19th century Quaker austerity,a fatal comination in the case of this woman,inasmuchas her religion made a virtue out of being tight with a penny,and Ms.Green seemed unable,or unwilling to temper her miserliness with charity or even commonsense..Her cheapness cost her son his leg,amputated rather than saved because Hetty Green was too cheap to seek the sort of medical service her millions could afford,and instead opted for a charity hospital...Green would live in cheap boarding houses,eat day old bread and quibble over a penny while at the same time loaning millions to suchlike as the government of the city of New York,and always at rates that were just short of usery.. This book is sort of a celebration of Hetty Green as"America's first female tycoon"but feminists who wish to embrace Green as such will find little to look up to,unless of course thier other role model is Gordon Geeko,notorious for the 1980's slogan"Greed is Good",from the film"Wall Street"..But this is the way Charles Slack sees Ms.Green,as a sort of 19th century feminist icon..Yes,he does detail Hetty's miserliness,but at the same time he attempts to excuse it or,worse,to put a happy face on it by comparing it to the miserliness of the era's other MALE tycoons...At the least,however,Rockefeller,Drew,and the others she is compared with were responsible enough to know that it was necessary to part with some of the sheckels when one's child had a leg injury that was going gangerous...Not Hetty...Indeed,Mr Slack attempts to downplay most of Hetty's bad habits,bad judgements,unnecessary cheapness,and other personality shortcomings while making a big deal out of her single-minded efforts to aquire more and more and more money..Wanting to become rich is,of course,no crime(although given the way most of the rich become rich,and the way most of them behave afterwards,perhaps it should be!),but,at the least,some of the very wealthy make some effort at appearing to be interested in something other than the getting of money for its own sake...Not Hetty Green..No sir!Until the day that she died,Hetty Green's obsession was MORE ! Customer Rating: Summary: World's Greatest Miser! Comment: This book is about Hetty Green who became the wealthiest woman in America at the time of her death in 1916. Hetty is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest miser who ever lived. Even though she possessed vast sums of money in the form of Real Estate and Stocks and Bonds she lived life like someone who didn't know where her next dollar was going to come from. Her life as one the world's greatest investors unfolds from her childhood in the mid 1800's until the time of her death. There is some insight into how she invested her money and how she learned to invest as a child reading the financial news out loud to her father and grandfather whose eye sight was failing. There are 16 chapters in this short book of only 226 pages. A lot of the book is spent on her relationships with relatives and her family. She had two children from a marriage that could be described as odd. Her son grew up and became a good businessman himself although he did not live his life as a miser. Neither one of her children had children of their own and the vast fortune that Hetty had accumulated and held onto so dear was eventually given away by her daughter through her Will upon her death. It is an interesting story but at times it can be hard to read, the reason for only 3 stars. Her life in a way I would say was sad although if Hetty was asked about the way she lived she probably wouldn't have changed a thing. Customer Rating: Summary: A great read about an early female millionaire Comment: Hetty Green lived in an era where the character of the American tycoon was emulated in the enormous mansions lining New York's Fifth Avenue. Hetty broke this mold in every way imaginable. Most importantly, by being the richest woman in America, she operated daily in an atmosphere dominated by men. Author Charles Slack provides a proper tribute to a woman mostly forgotten amongst the Vanderbilts, Morgans and Carnegies that came into prominence during her lifetime. Slack's treatment of Hetty's life is both fair and entertaining. At the time she was mostly known as miserly and mean-hearted but Slack offers a full-sided view of a complex woman who lived a very simple and unusual life for someone of her means. Unlike most women of the time, Hetty Green learned the economic ropes by reading the financial papers to her father and grandfather, both in the whaling business. She later uses her inherited fortunes to make her mark on Wall Street. Slack's ability to focus on her character and not on the specifics of her business dealings makes this a highly pleasurable and manageable read. She was often unpredictable and spent most of her life living in small tenements as opposed to mansions. Her penny-pinching philosophy led to many a great Hetty story, most of which Slack dutifully collects and includes in his novel. Her death, portrayed in later chapters, leaves the impression that our world is missing one of the true great aristocrats of its time. Customer Rating: Summary: A good read Comment: Slack has given us the first cut of a remarkable life. How many biographies exist for John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould and the others? This book opens up a whole new unexplored territory. Stack provides a platform for future biographers and their field is fertile. Why was Hettie forgotten? Was it lack of self-memorialization in libraries and museums? Wrong gender? No progeny to carry the name/flame? No Newport mansion for tourists to visit? What made her tick? The distant father? The need to succeed/prove? Protestant ethic? Loneliness? What of Mr. Green, a man so adventurous in early life? How did he FEEL when his wife so publically demonstrated her financial independance (in Victorian America)? What did he do in the years following this.. and how did he relate to his children? What of the son who honors his mother in public, leaves Texas to assist her, but marries Mable "Harlot" so soon after his mother's death. Why has this not been a DocumDrama already? More Reviews