The Magnificent Ambersons

Set in Midwest America in the early twentieth century, this bestselling novel introduces the extravagantly rich Ambersons, whose only real problem is that George Amberson Minafer—the spoiled grandson of the family patriarch—refuses to acknowledge the "new money" and rising prestige of business tycoons, industrialists, and real-estate developers. Rather than join the modern age, George insists on remaining a "gentleman." But his town soon becomes a city, and the family palace becomes surrounded by industry, destroying the elegant, privileged lifestyle the family enjoyed in days gone by.