The houses of Rotch: seeking to own the world
The houses of Rodman: diaries, weather and loss
The house of Arnold: a gentleman out of Providence
The house of Russell: winning and losing great fortune
The house of Morgan: owning the last whaling ship in the world
The house of Grinnell: the congressman and the tastemaker
The outsider: John Avery Parker tops them all
Young Mr. Rotch shocks the neighborhood
A pack of abolitionists, artists and Transcendentalists
The Howlands: the good and the awful
