In the case of the Vanderbilts, this theme consists mostly of examples of the misuse of money, ways in which the vast family fortune was used to ill effect. The authors repeat several times that, by the 19th century, the Vanderbilts were the richest Americans in the nation’s history. This was true when the patriarch, Cornelius Vanderbilt, died in 1877 and bequeathed $100 million to his heirs, and eight years later when his son Billy Vanderbilt died, leaving a fortune of over $200 million. Although the focus of the book is on some of the individuals who made up the family, the telling inevitably involves how they spent their money.

The Commodore himself had simpler tastes. He built himself a house in Manhattan’s Washington Square, then the center of New York society. However, in more than 30 years of living there, while his wealth continued to grow, he had never thought to build something more opulent. He also used some of his fortune for good causes. During the Civil War, he purchased a ship for the Union Navy that cost $1 million. Later, he gave the same amount to the Methodist Church so it could found a university in Tennessee (later renamed for him).