Volume 3: The Upper Class explores the lives of the very rich, focusing on those in the top 5 percent of America’s income level, including what they spent their money on, their ability to influence their communities, build companies through the timely infusion of capital, as well as their desire to party in Palm Beach or associate with the Dukes, Astors and Vanderbilts. Volume III: The Upper Class includes families whose only concern is making money, families whose only wish is to spend it and even some who are on the verge of losing the status often bestowed by wealth through bankruptcy.

Take a look at just some of the families profiled in Working Americans 1880-1999 – Volume 3: The Upper Class: 1880 - A wealthy Boston investor searches for ways to make a new company, Bell Telephone, profitably; ultimately the board controls costs by firing inventor Alexander Graham Bell; 1913 - Good timing led this man to invest in Ransom Olds’ new product the Oldsmobile; today, he is enjoying the fruits of his wisdom following a buy-out as the industry consolidates; 1915 - As Chief Surgeon of the Seaboard Railway Company, this man and his wife, both of whom trace their lineage to the earliest days of Virginia, enjoy the good life of foxhunting and trips to New York. He is devoted to finding ways to make train travel safer through a concept called ""first aid.""; 1980 - Known as ""The Slasher,"" this man divides his time between dismantling ailing companies and the party life of Palm Beach; 1999 - This Dot Com advertising executive is running and gunning his way to fame and fortune; no risk is too great for this whiz kid millionaire.

The Working Americans 1880-1999 series presents an interesting and useful compilation of portraits of the Working Class, Middle Class and Upper Class across the last 120 years. This series will be an important addition to any high school, public or academic library reference collection.