The Richest Woman in America: The Life and Times of Hetty Green by Janet Wallach

Apr 21, 2013 Lena rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Two and a half stars, rounded up.

Hetty Green was born into a Quaker whaling family in Massachusetts in the 19th century. Early on, she sought to gain her father's attention by learning as much as she could about the family business. While she didn't succeed in gaining her father's respect during his lifetime, she developed a sharp head for numbers and investments and ultimately transformed her inheritance into a fortune worth an estimated 2 billion in today's dollars.

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Dec 01, 2012 John Bellamy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Whatever its peculiar defects—of which more later—there is much to admire about Janet Wallach’s biography of Hetty Green. Firstly, it is highly readable, written in a lively style that successfully evokes its characters and scenes from the past in vivid word-pictures. Secondly, it also triumphs as a true “life and times” of its subject, a narrative in which the amazing Hetty is faithfully placed within the events and culture of her era. Thirdly, and most importantly, Wallach’s book also succeeds...more Whatever its peculiar defects—of which more later—there is much to admire about Janet Wallach’s biography of Hetty Green. Firstly, it is highly readable, written in a lively style that successfully evokes its characters and scenes from the past in vivid word-pictures. Secondly, it also triumphs as a true “life and times” of its subject, a narrative in which the amazing Hetty is faithfully placed within the events and culture of her era. Thirdly, and most importantly, Wallach’s book also succeeds as a sharply revisionist portrait of Green, whose previous chroniclers have generally caricaturized her as kind of a shrewish amalgam of greedy Ebenezer Scrooge and a neurotic bag lady. Wallach’s book is, above all, a persuasive argument that Hetty be taken seriously for exactly what she was: an intelligent woman who merely committed the unpardonable sin of succeeding in what was deemed the exclusively male realm of making money. Along the way, Wallach also disposes of most of the malign mythology and second-hand character assassination that has hitherto passed for Hetty Green biography: the slurs that she was an uncaring mother, that she was a social recluse, or that she was habitually attired in rags, that she was unrelentingly ungenerous with her money. Although she is a bit unconvincing in refuting the charge that Hetty forged the signature on her aunt's will . . .
There are, alas, some egregious factual problems with Wallach’s tome, for which both her publisher and editors—if there were in fact any involved in the issue of her book—should be held at least as responsible as she. Contrary to her assertions, the Erie Canal did not open in 1851 but rather in 1825 (p. 33); the Union did not fire on a Fort Sumter occupied by Confederate forces in April, 1861 (p. 51); there were no New York City newspapers published by either George Hearst or Joseph Pulitzer during the Civil War (p. 51); Fredericksburg was mostly definitely not a Union victory (p. 59), and Jennie Jerome did not marry the Duke of Marlborough (although Wallach later corrects that error on p. 184.). And then there’s the caption to an 1861 photograph of Hetty Green, which informs its viewer that she was then on her way to a dinner party at the home of “former President McKinley.” As McKinley would then have been about 18 and as the relevant narrativetext places her accurately at the home of former president Martin Van Buren, such an error seems almost inexplicable. Perhaps the Nan Talese / Doubleday imprint should follow the example of the auto industry and simply recall this flawed edition of Wallach’s otherwise admirable book and replace it with a corrected version worthy of its considerable merits. I’m only giving this 3 stars but it could have easily gained a fourth without its avoidable deficiencies.

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Mar 01, 2013 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hettie (alternately Hetty) Green was born into a family that rejected her. Her father, convinced that he was having a son, was terribly disappointed. When his son was born, 9 months later, only to die, he was bereft, as was her mother. She was further rejected and was sent to live with her grandfather.
Hettie had a very strict and rigid Quaker upbringing, and she learned the lessons well, exhibiting the values and standards of the Friends, for most of her life. She was frugal, moral and honest, i...more Hettie (alternately Hetty) Green was born into a family that rejected her. Her father, convinced that he was having a son, was terribly disappointed. When his son was born, 9 months later, only to die, he was bereft, as was her mother. She was further rejected and was sent to live with her grandfather.
Hettie had a very strict and rigid Quaker upbringing, and she learned the lessons well, exhibiting the values and standards of the Friends, for most of her life. She was frugal, moral and honest, if not always kind, in the way she lived and conducted her affairs. She remained a Quaker until very late in her life when she converted, was baptized, became an Episcopalian like her husband, and was buried next to him.
She worked hard to gain the love and respect of her father and did succeed, eventually. She found it easy to make money. Her philosophy worked. She was bright and she proved herself worthy of taking over the family business, at a time, in the mid 1800’s, when there were few rights for women and fewer men who gave them the respect that was due an intelligent, accomplished woman, who was expected to do nothing more than shop, embroider, conduct social affairs, and matters of the home. Business skills were unnecessary and thought of as inappropriate for females.
Hettie, however, rose to become a powerful businesswoman with great influence on everything she undertook. Although her business prowess was admired, she was often mocked for it, even though a man with the same skills and success would have been praised for his acumen.
As a young girl, in order to find a suitor, her aunt enrolled her at a fine school for dance, in Sandwich, a town in Cape Cod, MA. There she learned proper decorum and how to conduct herself with grace and charm. However, she was often portrayed as disheveled, never really concerned with vanity or appearance. She was educated intellectually at Friend’s Academy, a Quaker school, where her father’s financial and moral lessons were enhanced.
Hettie married Edward Green, a man of considerable reputation and wealth. They lived in England for several years and Hettie bore two children, Ned and Sylvia. Both her father and her aunt, who stepped in after the death of her mother, and with whom she was extraordinarily close, disappointed her by not trusting her to take care of her own money, leaving their estates in a trust for her, instead, despite the fact that she had proven herself far more capable than many a man. She had hoped for and, indeed, they had promised, to provide her with financial freedom.
Hettie’s life was a roller coaster of financial investments in stocks, railroads, property, and mortgages; marital concerns, social engagements, lawsuits, grudges and revenge. The road she traveled was often bumpy, but her indomitable spirit carried her onward to become the most prominent and wealthy woman of her time, withstanding all the arrows of that period.
She lived during a century of trauma, the Civil War was raging, she witnessed history with the birth of The Emancipation Proclamation, the writings of Karl Marx, bank failures, stock market crashes, (sounds like today!) the beginnings of the woman’s suffrage movement, the demand for equality, an end to slavery, and even the assassination of two Presidents, Lincoln and McKinley. In a man’s world, she was far more successful than men! She survived each crisis on top of the heap.
Her father foresaw the end of the whale oil market, he saw the coming age of railroads, he was an astute businessman and investor, and Hettie took after him. However, she was always a penny-pincher until the end, always given to plain taste in clothing and lifestyle, not very interested in charity, but always interested in making more money.
Always remembering how she was given short shrift in the wills of her family, she wanted to make sure her own children were well provided for and could be independent. She succeeded. She held sway over their choices and decisions without mercy, and as a result, Sylvia did not marry until the age of 38, and Ned kept company with someone for years that his mother would not accept, whom she called Miss Harlot instead of Miss Harlow.
Hettie was nothing, if not outspoken. As a result of her interference, neither child produced an heir to either carry on the name or inherit the fortune. It was doled out piecemeal to many beneficiaries, and the Robinson/Greene family dynasty died with the death of her children.
A remarkable woman, whose main interest was simply making money (and she sure made a lot of it before she “shuffled off this mortal coil”, at the age of 82, as the richest woman in America), comes to life and lives on in the pages of this book, thanks to the research and very authentic presentation of her, by Janet Wallach, the author. (less)

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Dec 13, 2012 George rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lacpl-epub, non-fiction, nook-2

INTERESTING, INSIGHTFUL AND INSTRUCTIVE.

“To New Englanders of every sort, prosperity was a virtue.”—page 17

Hetty Howland Robinson Green (1835-1916) was my kind of gal—smart, frugal, tough-minded, strong-willed, and wealthy—whose rock-solid Yankee New England values and ethics might have closely paralleled my own.

Perhaps growing up a mere fifteen miles and a brief century removed from Hetty’s origins [New Bedford, Massachusetts], bore some influence in that regard. I hope so. It pleases me to th...more INTERESTING, INSIGHTFUL AND INSTRUCTIVE.

“To New Englanders of every sort, prosperity was a virtue.”—page 17

Hetty Howland Robinson Green (1835-1916) was my kind of gal—smart, frugal, tough-minded, strong-willed, and wealthy—whose rock-solid Yankee New England values and ethics might have closely paralleled my own.

Perhaps growing up a mere fifteen miles and a brief century removed from Hetty’s origins [New Bedford, Massachusetts], bore some influence in that regard. I hope so. It pleases me to think that some of the ‘old fashioned’ Yankee—‘waste not, want not’—wisdom might have survived and been appreciated for at least that many decades. Would that that appreciation might return.

Although I was raised in the area, Janet Wallach’s book, ‘The Richest Woman in America: The Life and Times of Hetty Green,’ still offered up at least a couple of surprises about New Bedford, for me.

First, I was totally unaware of the significant influence of the Quaker community in New Bedford commerce, i.e. whaling, shipping, finance and textile. In fact I was virtually unaware that there even was a Quaker community in New Bedford. Congregationalist and Catholics galore, but not Quakers.

Second surprise, “[in 1857] …whaling reached its peak, with more ships, more capital, and more sailors than ever, making New Bedford the richest city per capita in the world.”—page 55. I have a difficult time getting my mind around the idea of New Bedford, or any other cities in the area, ever having been “the richest city per capita in the world.” Perhaps I’d better read ‘Moby Dick,’ after all.

Recommendation: This is a good—interesting, insightful and instructive—biography, especially for the economically conservative (i.e. skinflints and tightwads) among us.

“American children are not taught how to save money but how to spend it. Everything they want—give it to them so long as you know the price of the credit. That’s the policy of the modern mother and she is raising a nation of spendthrifts whose one thought is to get what they want when they want it.”—page 228

“Watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.”—page 251

Adobe Digital Editions [ePub], 289 pages,
on loan from http://overdrive.colapublib.org/
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May 02, 2013 Margaret Sankey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think all of us remember the Ripley's Believe it or Nots about Hetty Green--a terrible crazy women so stingy she let her son get gangrene rather than pay for a doctor. Wallach, the very sympathetic biographer of Gertrude Bell, another iconoclastic woman of the late 19th century, explains well how Green's background in a world where possession of money meant worthiness as a human being (to society at large, but particularly to her domineering father) shaped her as a shrewd investor who was plag...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nick, Matt, and those who enjoy history and finance.

Recommended to Doreen by: Won it on Goodreads!

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways

This book rates a 3.5 at least, but I just couldn't give it a 4. It is a biography only by the broadest interpretation of the word. I expect a biography to provide information centered on a person's private life, profession, accomplishments, adventures, etc. And though a biography may contain peripheral people and events, I expect the majority of the book to relate directly to the biographee. That is not how this book is written.

Hetty was a private person, not a flashy attention-seeker, so there...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

A captivating biography of America's first female tycoon, Hetty Green, the iconoclast who forged one of the greatest fortunes of her time.
No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green. At the time of her death in 1916, she was worth at least 100 million dollars, equal to about 2.5 billion dollars today.
Abandoned at birth by her neurotic mother, scorned by her misogynist father, Hetty set out as a child to prove her value. Following the simple rules of her wealthy Quaker father, sh...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Nicole Marble rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hetty Robinson inherited millions of dollars in the Victorian 'Gilded Age' and invested wisely which made her the richest woman in America, hence the book title. But behind her story is American business before regulation by government, so we have businesses gambling with their investors money, loosing it, closing empty banks which caused businesses to fail which caused massive unemployment and panic. For those who think government regulation is hokum, read this book closely.
As an aside, there i...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Patricia rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you're really into financial dealings - the ups and downs of the stock market through history, mortgages, railroads, and other transactions - then you'll probably give this a couple more stars than I did. I think I wanted more of a personal account of Hetty Green. Was warned when the author indicated in the prologue that Hetty had left no diary, no personal papers, and that her life story had been pieced together from newspaper accounts which are admittedly biased or inaccurate. Still, I do e...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Holly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, 2013-reads

Every listening session I found myself drifting away from the narrative and having to yank my focus back to attention ... then five minutes later it would happen again. This grew exhausting and a little worrisome (what was wrong with me?). But I got behind the wheel one evening during that week and to my surprise was immediately caught up in a "Selected Shorts" story in medias res. So I determined that it wasn't my listening that was entirely to blame: at the start of each section/chapter (and p...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Beth Gordon rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author admits that not much has been written about Hetty Green, so this biography is trying to put together a huge jigsaw puzzle in recreation.

Hetty seemed very down-to-earth and sought to understand everything, including investments, thoroughly. She wasn't going to take anyone's word for the truth. Given her upbringing with detached parents, this was the way she felt that she could deem herself worthy in their eyes.

I have empathy for someone who was born at a time when showmanship and pom...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Angie added it

I had never heard of Hetty Green, and I found her intriguing. She was extremely successful as a financier at a time when the field was dominated by men. She was a sharp investor who did her homework. She believed in good causes and helping the middle class. And of course, she also seemed a little paranoid and had a habit of dressing down. She was covered often in the press, but many people didn't know what she looked like. Today it would be much harder for her to fool the public.

Her practical a...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this biography about the richest woman in America. It's surprising how much Hetty Green did for this country and the city of New York, yet she isn't talked about in history books much, if at all. She saved the City of New York from bankruptcy several times, grew the railroads more than other railroad magnates, and accumulated more wealth than most of the country's leaders of the time. Her eccentric ways earned her a reputation as the "witch of Wall Street" but she was certainly...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Ed Thereault rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book feels incomplete, more like an outline or a synopsis of a much richer story. The sprinkling of gilded age luminaries, social customs, and institutions, (the metropolitan museum, the Waldorf Astoria, shops and restaurants, etc) was the kind of information spouted by docents in the Newport Mansions and historical societies.

In short, the book is not bad, it is just superficial.

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Feb 12, 2013 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. It gives a fair and pro-feminist view of this controversial figure in American financial history. Had she been a man living the way she lived no one would have noticed, being a woman everyone noticed. I wish this biography contained a chapter sketching the lives of her children after she died, that would have been interesting as well.

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Mar 20, 2013 April rated it 5 of 5 stars

I normally don't care about rich people, but this book was pretty fascinating. The only complaint I have is they didn't really tell where all her money went after her death. They did state that it went to some charities, schools, and churches, but what became of her her two kids and their wealth? This was definitely worth the read. Hetty Green was the only woman of her time to make millions, take people to court over the mishandling of her trust. She remained cool when everyone else was in a fre...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Clara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: research

I had hoped to learn more about Hetty the person, but most of the book is about the gilded age -- sort of a mishmash of facts (?) about railroads, financial booms & busts, real estate, even the Wizard of Oz, but very little new about Hetty, except some about her final years. I was disappointed.

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Mar 07, 2013 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great background on Hetty Green & the Gilded Age. It's so important to have wonderful books on American women. It would be so easy for them and their contribution to American society to be erased. Thank you, Janet, for this book and for The Desert Queen, too.

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Nov 20, 2012 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this and it may be closer to a 3.5 but it was somewhat repetitive. It also focused a lot on the time that Hetty Green lived in and the famous people that lived then and less on Hetty Green than I would have expected.

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Jan 30, 2013 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a biography of Hetty Green. Hetty lived during the Gilded Age and that's what caught my attention when I chose this book to read.

Lots of history along with Hetty's biography. It was an interesting book to read.

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Sep 28, 2012 Deborah Bull rated it 4 of 5 stars

The telling of her story is done in a little more stilted style than I like but overall a very interesting biography. It actually helped my understanding of what causes economic depressions and how we come out of them. Americans should read this book!

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Nov 13, 2012 Anne marked it as to-read

I just learned about Hetty Green last year when I was staying near Bellows Falls, VT where she lived. Who knew? I am interested to find out more about her.

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Nov 08, 2012 AJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, own, 2012

How can it be that one of the biggest financial players of the gilded age was a woman, and that nobody ever hears of her in history books when learning about all the rich men? Hetty Green lived a pretty interesting life, albeit without the gory details you get from rich people these days (or maybe just Paris Hilton in general). At times the book dragged, because, well... there were really no gory details, except for a few temper tantrums here and there. But this book was definitely a great histo...more

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May 13, 2013 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very well written, enjoyed every minute of the read. A very intriguing woman who was definitely ahead of her time. I can only wonder what she would have accomplished had she lived in my time.

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Nov 15, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lots of history on the American Economy. Would have likes more information on her private life.

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Jan 05, 2013 Kayne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great story. Strong minded woman who held her own against society. Very likeable bio.

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Jan 04, 2013 Richard added it

Read about 20 pages of it, wasn't interested in finishing the book ...

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Jan 26, 2013 Sam Levine rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author did a good job of putting the little we know about Green in a larger context, though the lack of primary sources about Green's life left for a lot of extrapolation and was a bit of a drawback.

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Feb 08, 2013 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good historical look at New York and surrounding communities.

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Nov 22, 2012 Walter Herrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought this as an audible book, and because I really like the narrator...I really liked the book.

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