The Richest Woman in America

Hetty Green in the Gilded Age

By: Janet Wallach

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

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 more than 2 billion dollars today. A strong believer in women being financially independent, she offered valuable lessons for the present times.

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, she successfully invested her money and along the way proved to herself that she was wealthy and therefore worthy.

Never losing faith in America's potential, she ignored the herd mentality and took advantage of financial panics and crises. When everyone else was selling, she bought railroads, real estate, and government bonds. And when everyone was buying and borrowing, she put her money into cash and earned safe returns on her dollars. Men mocked her and women scoffed at her frugal ways, but she turned her back and piled up her earnings, amassing a fortune that supported businesses, churches, municipalities, and even the city of New York itself.

She relished a challenge. When her aunt died and did not leave Hetty the fortune she expected, she plunged into a groundbreaking lawsuit that still resonates in law schools and courts. When her husband defied her and sank her money on his own risky interests, she threw him out and, marching down to Wall Street, quickly made up the loss. Her independence, outspokenness, and disdain for the upper crust earned her a reputation for harshness that endured for decades. Newspapers kept her in the headlines, linking her name with witches and miscreants. Yet those who knew her admired her warmth, her wisdom, and her wit.

Set during a period of financial crisis strikingly similar to our current one, acclaimed author Janet Wallach's engrossing exploration of a fascinating life revives a rarely-mentioned queen of American finance.

©2012 Janet Wallach (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An enjoyable account...Wallach successfully portrays a compelling woman who kept her eyes on the glittering financial prize, using a commonsense philosophy regarding real estate and investment throughout the 19th century’s Wall Street roller coaster." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Excellent." ( The New York Times Book Review on Desert Queen)

"A richly textured biography.... Wallach’s account is both close-grained and broad.... A vivid, almost novelistic narrative." ( Chicago Tribune on Desert Queen)

A hidden gem

Loved the story and timeless principles of wealth. Fascinating to hear so many of the same issues we think are new are actually just being repeated

Shed a different light than I expected

Having spent time in Bellows Falls, Vermont I had heard of Hetty Green. I heard her referred to as "The Witch of Wall Street" many times. I expected her biography to show what a monster she was, but this book really humanized her. I was quite surprised that when mentioning the nicknames that she had that none included Witch.

Hetty Green had more layers than I expected. She was one of a kind. She was not a total witch and I had a lot of sympathy for her at times.

The narration was good, but not fantastic. Still, a solid book and solid narration

One of the Best Historical Biographies

I didn’t want to stop listening. A fascinating history of the Gilded Age is wrapped around the amazing life of a woman way ahead of her time. Using her quiet faith and common sense, she maneuvered around and among men, amassing a fortune rarely seen even today. Well worth the read.

On The Edge Every Minute

Where does The Richest Woman in America rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book was spellbinding from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will re-read it. It's not the best book I've read but it ranks right there at the top. It was worth the investment of money and time.

What did you like best about this story?

I like the focused energy that Hetti illustrated. She was way ahead of her time.

Which character – as performed by Coleen Marlo – was your favorite?

Hetti, of course. She over shadowed every other character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

By reading this book, I felt like I intimately came to know the real Hetti Green: a cool, detached, cutthroat, money grabber. At times, I was sickened by her stinginess and she never was able to redeem herself with me. There were glimpses of what may have been an underlying care for others but I was always a bit suspicious that Hetti's motivation was money driven, not altruistic. Still, I greatly admired her aggressiveness, creativity, and competitiveness.

Enjoyable Read

I’ve been intrigued by Hetty Green for years.
Enjoyed this engaging, detailed telling of her life. Well done.
The audio version was excellent.

Not that great

The story was written fairly bland peppered with far too many figures and less about what they meant, unless you are an accountant or financier. The reader clipped at a fast pace with little variation or meaning. Not sure if it was one factor or both that made this book tedious. I did get through it, but I was looking forward to a story with more effect like with Rockefeller or Morgan. It had the potential, which made it disappointing.

great history of finance

Great story of one investors success during the Gilded Age from mid 1800s to early 1900, and this person just happens to be a woman. Thanks to a total lack of restrictions on finance, this period of history is frought with booms then busts every couple years, when a person could be a millionaire one week and a pauper the next which happened frequently.

Horrible Narrator

I was very interested in the subject matter, however, the narrators affected voice almost made me stop listening. If you can get past that voice the story is interesting.

Interesting story

I had never heard of Hetty Green and so was very interested to hear this book performed. Unfortunately, the narrators odd pronunciations and rhythms took away from the overall story.

Narrator has a grating drone.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Hetty Green was an incredibly fascinating woman who was well ahead of her time. I would have enjoyed listening to the account of her life had it not been for the narrator's very poor performance. From the beginning, she speaks in a quick monotone that flies over the text with nearly no inflection. Repeatedly, significant events in the book are spilled out with little affect. It was as if the narrator was reading the book for the first time as she was recording, with no interest in the subject matter whatsoever. I abandoned the book one third of the way through in order to read the hard copy myself.