The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the Amberson family ruled a small empire in the Midwest.  The Amberson Addition had wide boulevards where elegantly attired families drove there horse drawn carts between their stately mansions.  From the day he was born, George Amberson the third is treated as the worthy heir apparent.  He grows up believing that in spite of his expensive education he is to spend his life "being" and not "doing".  That would be the role of the "riffraff".  But as the city grows to meet the Amberson Addition, life is irrevocably altered and George struggles to acknowledge the new reality.  This was the winner of the 1919 Pulitzer Prize.