2No 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