"The saga begins and ends with two commonplace scenes: a teenaged immigrant alighting a ship in colonial Philadelphia with but two letters of introduction and three guineas to his name, and a gravesite ringed by a half-dozen black-clothed mourners. But during the century and a half that encapsulates these vignettes, a Pennsylvania dynasty rose and fell- and rose and fell again. From Robert Coleman of Castle Finn, Ireland, to Robert Habersham Coleman of Cornwall, Lebanon County, four generations of one family amassed several fortunes, monopolized Pennsylvania's ironmaking industry, created entire self-sufficient communities, befriended statesmen, entertained royalty and lived - and died - in an epic drama that still intrigues and fascinates." [from the text]
