Reginato dutifully notes the tragedies...all while tipping the scale whenever possible toward the family’s positive contributions ... The Gettys’ eccentricities are on full display, delightfully so.
Reginato’s meticulous research and personal interviews create a sweeping portrait of arguably the United States’ greatest industrial dynasty and extracts the untold stories behind the sensational headlines about billionaire oil baron J. Paul Getty ... A rapturous biography for casual readers. This in-depth analysis of one of the United States’ richest families reveals a behind-the-scenes legacy of love and generosity.
... brisk and sympathetic ... The author has logged significant hours in the drawing rooms of the American aristocracy — and some of his pages do have the gently draped feeling of an auction catalog. But he wants to shake the dust from the name of Getty: to show that the majority are not drug-addled wastrels but productive citizens ... At various points in “Growing Up Getty,” readers might yearn for a grid with color-coded pegs, like the one in the old board game Battleship, to keep track of all the names and relationships. Certainly some Gettys are square pegs. Many prefer to go unquoted ... The rich may be different, in Reginato’s telling, but they are not indifferent.
