The second book in Booth Tarkington's "Growth" trilogy, "The Magnificent Ambersons" is considered by many to be his greatest novel. The novel depicts Mid-Western life from the post-Civil War era to the early twentieth century. First published in 1918, and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, this novel follows, through three generations, the decline of the Ambersons, an aristocratic family of the upper-class society of Indianapolis. Following the American...

In the fictional town of Durham, The Pentlands were a proud and wealthy family with a rich history dating back to the founding colony of Massachusetts Bay. Everything was how it should be with John, the elder patriarch; his son Anson and his wife Olivia; and their children, Jack and Sybil, carrying on in the way that upper-class society families do. But the world is changing. Old money is moving out and dying off. New money is moving in. The "old...