BIOGRAPHY. GROWING UP GETTY by James Reginato (Gallery £22.92, 336pp). When he was 22, in 1914, J. Paul Getty's father gave him $10,000 (the equivalent of £250,000 today) to invest in the oil ...

In his day, J. Paul Getty was known as "the richest man in America." James Reginato's biography, Growing Up Getty, is an exhaustive account of how the rich are different from most people.

Robert Lenzner is the author of "The Great Getty," a biography of J. Paul Getty, published in 1986 that was on the best-seller list of the NY for 13 weeks. Editorial Standards Reprints & Permissions.

The story of the Gettys, one of America's oldest dynasties, is braided with two conflicting threads: fabulous wealth and chronic misfortune. Tuesday's death of 47-year old Andrew Getty, grandson ...