Overall, the author treated Hetty Green fairly, even kindly. While she was a trailblazer, she was not necessarily a role model. Some of her frugality was hilarious, some was tragic. And she never lost that spirit to fight tooth and nail for every dollar.Īnd yes … she was cheap. When she finally gets to New York, she turns the inheritance she fought for into one of the largest and greatest fortunes of all times. The real magic of Hetty Green begins after those early days in Massachusetts. While some of what she did in those early days was unsavory to say the least, few among you could say you wouldn’t do the same under similar circumstances. To be a women in that era was inherently an unsafe and financially insecure position. Hetty learned early not to succumb to convention. And her aunt, with whom she lived while growing up, was also ill and unable to care for her properly. Her mother was frail, and failed to produce a mail heir herself. Her father married her mother to gain access into a family business that had no male heirs. Hetty Green grew up in a dysfunctional family. If she were alive today … she’d belong in the ranks of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. In an age when women were not even allowed to vote … Hetty Green was called by JP Morgan to a meeting of the country’s biggest business tycoons in the wake of the 1907 stock market crash. You can insert your indictment of government schools in America right here. Well - I certainly had never heard of her before reading this book.
He was mentioned in her will, although she outlived him. It took me 43 years to learn of the existence of the amazing Hetty Green. Another example of failing public schools.
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