American Dynasties: A History of Founding and Influential American Families

by Rachel Dickinson

Overview

No one likes to believe that America has its own aristocracy, but the families described in this narrative share how these American families climbed the social ladder and their resulting legacies. Approached from a historical lens, learn about the great and influential families, their rise and sometimes their fall, including the following families:Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Ford, Getty, Hearst, Morgan, Astor, Coors, Adams, Kennedy, Nampeyo, Wyeth, Carter, and Barrymore.



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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493066698
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/15/2022
Pages:	246
Sales rank:	698,591
Product dimensions:	5.71(w) x 8.54(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Rachel Dickinson is a writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications including The Atlantic, Smithsonian.com, Outside, Men’s Journal, American Way, Aeon, Salon, and Audubon. She has been awarded two Travel Classics awards, an American Society of Journalists and Authors award for best book, a National Endowment for the Humanities Youth Fellowship, and a coveted Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. The author of Falconer on the Edge: A Man, His Birds, and the Vanishing Landscape of the American West, she lives in Freeville, New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Part I Power

Chapter 1 Vanderbilt: The Commodore's Legacy 3

Chapter 2 Rockefeller: Oil Titan 17

Chapter 3 Ford: Putting Wheels on the Modern Age 31

Chapter 4 Getty: Oil and Art Do Mix 47

Chapter 5 Adams: Founding Father and More 61

Chapter 6 Kennedy: America's Brand of Political Royalty 73

Part II Money

Chapter 7 Morgan: Managing Money 91

Chapter 8 Astor: Furs to the Gilded Age 109

Chapter 9 Hearst: The Newspaper Business 125

Chapter 10 Coors: Beer 143

Part III Fame

Chapter 11 Wyeth: Painting Legacy 153

Chapter 12 Nampeyo: Hopi-Tewa Potters 173

Chapter 13 Carter Family: Music of the People 187

Chapter 14 Barrymore: All the World's a Stage 199

Bibliography 215

Index 221

About the Author 237

Editorial Reviews

In American Dynasties Rachel Dickinson delivers a proper primer on a sampling of the funneling of talent – and often luck – through the generations of oligarchs and artists. Missteps get repeated, but often so do successes. The unpredictable nature of American society, according to Dickinson, makes it so there is no consistent playbook.

Robert Strauss

In American Dynasties Rachel Dickinson delivers a proper primer on a sampling of the funneling of talent – and often luck – through the generations of oligarchs and artists. Missteps get repeated, but often so do successes. The unpredictable nature of American society, according to Dickinson, makes it so there is no consistent playbook.” —Robert Strauss, author of “Worst. President. Ever.” and “Final Founder: John Marshall.

From the Publisher