A fascinating tale of what it meant to be rich and socially prominent in America, from the late 19th century to the 1920s. The social elite didn't associate with people they didn't know or want to know.

One of my favorite examples is when a lady offered to introduce a gentleman to another lady at a soiree.

Lady: "Would you like to speak to her?"
Man: "I don't believe I know her."
Lady: "Would you like me to introduce you?"
Man: "I don't believe I'm suppose to know her."

People went to Europe every year to buy their clothes, the ladies in Paris and the men in London. Sometimes they did it twice a year. A society woman who attended the 60-day season at Saratoga needed four changes of clothes a day, or 240 different dresses. Unless she decided to risk wearing a dress more than once.

But their lives could be simple too. For example, camping out in tents, a husband, wife and their children only required about two dozen servants to accompany them. If you camped in the Mid-West, then your food was shipped by railroad express from New York on a daily basis.

Oh, how I yearn for my own simple 50-room cottage in the mountains or by the shore.

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