Born at the end of the 18th century, the son of a Staten Island ferryman, Cornelius Vanderbilt would go on to become the richest man in America with a fortune built in shipping and railroads. That fortune, fought over by his heirs, helped create an American dynasty that re-defined the meaning of excess in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Now, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s great-great-great-grandson, Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the epic story of his legendary family. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the Vanderbilts—those who built the dynasty and those whose lives were forever shaped by it, for better and for worse. This is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.