the voices of these people i never knew. they weren't one dimensional figures in a history book, they were complex, flush with emotion and desire. their inner lives far more compelling than their public pe personae would lead us to believe. the cunning and cruel cornelius vanderbilt. his statue stands outside new york's grand central station which he founded. his genius and relentless cunning enabled him to become the richest man in the world, $100 million in 1877. his mania for money would go on to infect generations of vanderbilts in different ways. his son, billy, mocked and discounted by the commodore for much of his life, doubled his father's fortune in eight short years, but subsequent generations began a spending spree the likes of which america had never seen. his sons, cornelius, my great grandfather, his brother, willie, their strong-willed and ambitious wives alice and alva,