Chapter 1 Summary

"A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people, just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees" (Chap. 1, p. 1). The amount of money involved is quite sizable, $87,472,033.61 and produces a total of $3,500,000 interest per year, which is more than $10,000 per day. This is the amount that was used to found a charitable foundation. It came from the Rosewater fortune, which was the fourteenth largest family fortune in America at the time, and the purpose of the foundation was to keep other people, including the tax agents, from obtaining any of it. The Rosewater Foundation charter requires that the presidency of the foundation be passed through inheritance. The inheritor of the presidency has to be the closest and oldest heir to Senator Lister Ames Rosewater, who created the foundation. Their children...