Fortune, Family, Fracture

The nineteenth century witnessed the rise of many intrepid young men who began with little other than their wit, and rose to great heights during the Gilded Age. It is the year 1838. One such young man, an orphan who had won an almost impossible commission to the Military Academy at West point, suddenly drops out of the Academy. With roots in New York City, our young man called John Hooper veers to the railroad for a year or so, presumably employing his engineering skills developed at the Academy and prior. He then returns to the City & convinces Horace Greeley to hire him at the New York Tribune. At $8 a week. Suddenly he is the founder of the first advertising agency in the City. He doesn't stop there.

In a fast-paced and richly detailed exploration, peppered with rare and illuminating images from the era, historian and author Robert Hooper brings to life the story of John Hooper, weaving in the experiences of the family John and his beloved Angeline built during the tumultuous mid-to late-nineteenth century in New York City. This is a tale of ambition and unwavering grit, culminating in both remarkable success and profound tragedy, along with controversies that echoed across John's treasured city. It was a rare world that John inhabited, a world now known as the Gilded Age. He may be long gone, but John's enduring legacy remains visible even today.

Robert J. Hooper never set out to become an author, he became one by accident and conviction. When entrusted with the task of preserving the poetry, plays, and short stories of Grace Duncan Hooper, Robert intended only to safeguard her literary legacy. But at the urging of his publisher, he stepped into authorship to tell Grace's remarkable story himself. The result is his debut book, Finding Grace: Meandering Through the Life and Writings of Grace Duncan Hooper.That journey sparked a deeper exploration into Grace's lineage and the world around her. His second book, Born to Responsibility, shines a light on Grace's mother and the visionary women of New York City who formed the Little Mothers Aid Association, a once formidable but now forgotten organization that supported young girls burdened with the care of their infant siblings while their parents worked.In his third work, Fortune, Family, Fracture, Robert turns his attention to Grace's grandfather, John Hooper, a self-made man who began as an orphan and charity school student and rose to become a pioneering force in advertising, banking, the lead industry, and philanthropy in 19th-century New York City. Through vivid historical narrative and careful research, Robert chronicles John's patient ambition, public triumphs, and private contradictions. At the twilight of the story lies a painful family rift: a father's willful interference in his daughters' lives and the emotional fallout that rippled through generations. Was John Hooper a hard-hearted patriarch or a man undone by love and loss? The answer, like the man himself, defies easy judgment.Robert lives in North Carolina, with his beloved wife Ellen. Their son, Matthew, is a teacher.