{"product_id":"lady-on-the-hill-9780471758181","title":"Lady on the Hill","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat William Cecil has accomplished at Biltmore Estate is one of the great preservation success stories of all time. He has set a high standard for what all historic house museums strive for: magnificently preserved buildings and grounds, engaging interpretation, and--perhaps most challenging of all--economic self-sufficiency. It is no surprise that Biltmore Estate is widely recognized as one of America''s finest places to visit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Moe\u003c\/b\u003e, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBiltmore is a glorious national historic landmark that, through creative vision and entrepreneurial management, preserves and provides insight into a way of life in the early 1900s. Bill is the imaginative and multifaceted leader who has built this great monument to enrich his community. George and I admire his dedication and success.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge and Abby Rockefeller O''Neill\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBill Cecil and his team at Biltmore Estate have sure proved that they know how t\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet amid thousands of lushly landscaped acres in the North Carolina mountains, the Biltmore estate is a 250-room Gilded Age mansion stuffed to the rafters with objets d'art. Writing a very authorized business history rather than an architectural appreciation, journalist Covington celebrates the estate's transformation from quasifeudal folly to lucrative tourist mecca. Built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt, who played lord of the manor to hundreds of tenant farmers and servants, the estate passed in the 1960s to his grandson William Cecil, whose tight-fisted budgets, canny marketing initiatives and rapt attention to customer service turned it into a profitable museum of robber-baron privilege, selling more tickets than Colonial Williamsburg. The author's sycophantic account of this not unduly exciting saga is mainly a tribute to Cecil, who wrote the afterword. Covington defends the Biltmore owner's model of private, for-profit historical preservation against charges of commercialism leveled by nonprofit preservationists, repeats his complaints about inheritance taxes, extols his entrepreneurial daring, salutes his Biltmore restoration projects (\"surpassed what many had seen anywhere\") and raves about \"customer satisfaction reports... comparable to those enjoyed by a five-star resort.\" This anodyne hospitality-industry success story will find a place in the Biltmore gift shop, but probably nowhere else. \u003ci\u003e(Mar.)\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, January 2, 2006)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eForeword by Lord Rothschild ix\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments xiii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 A Centennial Celebration 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 George Vanderbilt’s Dream 13\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Edith Vanderbilt 37\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Judge Adams 67\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 The National Gallery’s Wartime Vault 95\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 A Curiosity or a Treasure 109\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 The Airport Fight 125\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Homecoming 135\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 Mr. C 151\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 The Music Room 167\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e11 Presentation versus Preservation 183\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e12 Voice in the Wilderness 199\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e13 “Be Reasonable—Do It My Way” 213\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e14 Biltmore by the Bottle 235\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e15 Putting It Right 263\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e16 Lady on the Hill 291\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfterword by William A. V. Cecil 303\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes 307\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 319\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Wiley \u0026 Sons Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49525408989527,"sku":"9780471758181","price":22.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780471758181.jpg?v=1731860403","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/lady-on-the-hill-9780471758181","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}