The Trumps

The story of the three Trumps mirrors America's transformation from a land of striving immigrants to a world in which the aura of wealth alone can guarantee a fortune. The Trumps begins with a portrait of Donald's immigrant grandfather, who as a young man built hotels for miners in Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. His son, Fred, took advantage of the New Deal, using government subsidies and loopholes to construct hugely successful housing developments in the 1940s and 1950s. The profits from Fred's enterprises paved the way for Donald's roller-coaster ride through the 1980s and 190s into the new century. With his talent for extravagant exaggeration, Donald Trump turned the deal-making know-how of his forebears into an art form. By placing Donald's much-publicized life within the context of his family, Gwenda Blair adds a new dimension to a glitzy, larger-than-life -- yet ultimately enigmatic -- figure.