The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit
Kykuit, which in Dutch means "high point" or "lookout," is the name of the Rockefeller country home, an immensely opulent estate with a main, Normandy-style mansion, beautiful gardens, and many outbuildings, including a coach barn, greenhouses, a Japanese teahouse, and a "playhouse"?a Tudor mansion with indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, and bowling alleys. Roberts, daughter of the late vice president Nelson A. Rockefeller, narrates the building of the estate by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and places special emphasis on how each of the next five generations of Rockefellers has added distinctive touches to this property. Photographer Pierson, Roberts's daughter, has taken beautiful pictures, each one advocating how wealth can lead to the development of beauty. Yet the book never gets beyond being a souvenir that one can purchase at a gift shop after visiting the estate, which was donated to the National Trust and is open to the public for viewing. The only reason one would want to buy this book is to see how super-rich Americans live in their "secondary" homes. Very marginally recommended for those interested in how wealth is transformed into an opulent lifestyle.?Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., HonoluluCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.