“Dynasties are notoriously difficult to maintain. By a common benchmark, a family can’t really be considered a dynasty until it has endured for four generations with its fortune and social rank still standing. When a family does cross that threshold, to keep them all on track at least one of the heirs generally needs to produce something original.”
I’m Mark Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and James Reginato tells the story of one such American dynasty in his book Growing Up Getty; The Story of America’s Most Unconventional Dynasty.
The story begins with J. Paul Getty who at one time was the undisputed richest man in the world. He was the founder of Getty Oil at a time when owning an oil company was both lucrative and a status symbol. J. Paul was focused on making money— a lot of money—but also intent on giving back to the community and world. A combination that continues with J. Paul’s heirs.
The Getty story is multifaceted. The family has its tragedies with childhood deaths, kidnapping, alcohol and drug addiction and subsequent deaths from them. At the same time members of the family are actively supportive of a wide range of topics from LGBTQ rights to protection of endangered species around the world to cultural events. Even with this range of interests the family is still about making money and ridiculously extravagant expenditures, from multiple homes around the world, to multi-million dollar weddings to crazy expensive vacations for hundreds of their closest friends.
In Growing Up Getty by James Reginato the reader will experience emotions from empathy to humor to historical inquisitiveness all while reading of the highs and lows of one the richest and most influential families of the world.