Great Estates: The Lifestyles & Homes of American Magnates
By Christina Bohnstengel
The Hearst Castle, Jay Gould’s gothic Lyndhurst, and Henry Clay Frick’s Manhattan mansion are just a few of the private palaces that have peaked the curiosity of many of America’s middle class. William G. Scheller has found a way to capitalize on that curiosity in his oversized coffee table book, Great Estates: The Lifestyles & Homes of American Magnates (Universe, $35). Offering a sneak peek into some of the sumptuous abodes of 40 of the leaders of great American industries, the 240-page tome documents American history from the 1700s to today, through the lives, homes, and careers of notable U.S. barons of business like John Hancock, John Jacob Astor, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, to more modern-day CEOs and celebrities like Malcolm Forbes, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
The 12×10 richly illustrated volume, which came out last week, is certain to garner a bit of attention as the public continues to reel from nonstop news of overindulgence by bailed-out bankers and others in the upper class.
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