Old Money: The Mythology of Wealth in America
Old Money: The Mythology Of Wealth in America is a witty and provocative look at the culture of the American upper class and the values and meanings of inherited wealth. Old Money examines how and why the values nurtured by the inheritors of wealth differ from those of the marketplace and the self-made man, and shows how these differing attitudes toward money affect the lives of individuals and the face of society. Old Money attitudes are an inheritance of educational and aesthetic values, attitudes toward the family, the genders and different generations, as well. Drawing on personal experience, historical anecdotes of leading families like the Vanderbilts, Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Rockefellers, and more than 150 interviews, Old Money conducts a revealing exploration of the complex meanings of money and success in American society. Old Money is a fascinating window into the psyche of a class that only those born to it have heretofore truly understood it.  --Midwest Book Review