John Jacob Astor made his fortune trading furs with the Indians. When he went bust, he had enough to buy up a large percentage of land on Manhattan Island. At the time it was nothing more than a small city of 25,000 or so.

The Astors were plagued by the press as part of the original Astor's money came from tenements. They still owned them four generations later. William Waldorf and John Jacob IV saw nothing wrong with it.

These two cousins hated each other but they enhanced the Astor fortune by building luxury hotels, the most famous of which was the Waldorf-Astoria aimed at the rich. Eventually both would build more luxury hotels, including the Astor and the St. Regis. They never let personal animosity interfere with business. William built the Waldorf; John Jacob IV added on to the Astoria.

This book centers on William Waldorf and John Jacob IV of Titanic fame. William thought Americans were a bunch of louts, especially the press; he moved to England where he bought two castles and had his eye on becoming a baron. John Jacob IV coveted a military title, and he got one during the Spanish-American War when he sent an artillery regiment to fight alongside Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. JJ IV witnessed the charge up San Juan Hill, and this got him the military title of Lt. Col. he so much desired. From then on he was known as Colonel. The press thought he was a jackass and that's what they called him.

Both of them proved the old adage, “Money will not make you happy.” JJ IV's wife, Ava, was a noted beauty and she knew it. They argued constantly until JJ IV's mother Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, queen of New York's exclusive “Four Hundred,” died and he was able to quietly divorce Ava, only to fall in love with a seventeen year old girl; he was 46; this was shortly before the Titanic sunk, and that's how JJ IV is remembered; he went down with the ship after making sure his wife was safe in a lifeboat. Thanks to his donations to WWI veterans and other charities, William eventually got his peerage. He donated one of his castles to his son, Waldorf, as a wedding present. Waldorf married American spitfire, Nancy Langhorne, the first woman to win in a seat in Parliament. She was a suffragette and staunchly liberal while William was more conservative than Rush Limbaugh. When he finally won his title, Waldorf disapproved as he had already won a seat in the Commons. If William were to accept the title, when he died, Waldorf would have to move to the ineffective House of Lords. They never spoke again, nor did he speak to his daughter Pauline who also disapproved. He died a pig-headed, lonely old man.