John Paul Getty was born in Minnesota in 1892. His father was an attorney, who subsequently bought some land and oil rights, boosting the family into wealth. J. Paul was very smart and studious. He spoke several languages and loved to read. His father gave him some money to expand the oil business, which he did very savvily. He did a lot of lucrative business deals, founding the Getty Oil Company in 1942. He was married five times, and had five children. One son, Timmy, died at age 12.

John Paul II, the third son of J. Paul, was an interesting man as well. He was married to Gail, with whom he had four kids, but married a Polish model, Talitha, after their divorce. Talitha died of a heroin overdose, and JP II had also become addicted during this time. This disappointed J. Paul and JP II eventually resigned from the company. One of his sons, Mark, went on to found the Getty Images company we all know today. His daughter, Ariadne, went on to be a film producer. His son with Talitha had the most bizarre name... Tara Gabriel Gramophone Galaxy Getty... who became an ecological conservationist in Africa. His other son, John Paul III, was kidnapped and held for ransom, which his father did not pay. His life was very unfortunate, having turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with the trauma, which caused him to have a stroke and be chair bound until he died.

The situation with the kidnapping is just one of the first in a long line of tragic occurrences. Of course, Timmy's death at age 12 was the real beginning. Several members of the family have died due to old age, drugs, etc. Several other Getty relatives have made a name for themselves. August Getty designs dresses worn on the red carpet. Nats Getty designs streetwear and is a well known LGBTQ activist. Anne Getty Earhart is an environmentalist. There are several musically inclined ones, and most all of them are supportive of arts, causes, and philanthropy.

Personal Thoughts: Wow. Where to begin. I got this book with my Audible credits, and I was looking forward to reading it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it took me forever to get through. (My own fault, not the book.) This book was extremely well researched, and provided a lot of details about many of the family members, especially John Paul Getty. I was aware of Getty Images before I read this book, so the connection to that pop culture thing was neat. I was mostly aware of the Getty family thanks to some true crime show about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. The book does mention a lot of the art collections and philanthropy projects by various members of the family, which I plan to do a deeper dive into. (I can't stand when people support causes simply because of famous names, especially in the climate we are unfortunate enough to be living in right now.) Overall, I thought this book was extremely interesting and informative. I really enjoyed learning about this family. It's a large family and there are a whole cast of characters, so I was never bored. I think I could have benefitted from a flow chart though. If you are into family dynasties, this is one I would highly recommend picking up.