John D. Rockefeller, Sr., history's first billionaire and the patriarch of America's most famous dynasty, is an icon whose true nature has eluded three generations of historians. Now National Book Award–winning biographer Ron Chernow gives us a detailed and insightful history of the mogul. Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller's rich trove of papers. Full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist.Rockefeller was likely the most controversial businessman in our nation's history. Critics charged that his empire was built on unscrupulous tactics: grand-scale collusion with the railroads, predatory pricing, industrial espionage, and wholesale bribery of political officials. The titan spent more than thirty years dodging investigations until Teddy Roosevelt and his trustbusters embarked on a marathon crusade to bring Standard Oil to bay.While providing abundant...
John D. Rockefeller, Sr., history's first billionaire andthe patriarch of America's most famous dynasty, is an icon whose true naturehas eluded three generations of historians. Now National Book Award-winningbiographer Ron Chernow gives us a detailed and insightful history of the mogul. Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access toRockefeller's rich trove of papers. Full of startling revelations, the bookindelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Rockefeller was likely the most controversial businessmanin our nation's history. Critics charged that his empire was built onunscrupulous tactics: grand-scale collusion with the railroads, predatorypricing, industrial espionage, and wholesale bribery of political officials.The titan spent more than thirty years dodging investigations until TeddyRoosevelt and his trustbusters embarked on a marathon crusade to bring StandardOil to bay. While providing abundant evidence of Rockefeller'smisdeeds, Chernow discards the stereotype of the cold-blooded monster to sketchan unforgettably human portrait of a quirky, eccentric original. A devoutBaptist and temperance advocate, Rockefeller gave money more generously thananyone before him. Titan presents a finely nuanced portrait of afascinating, complex man, synthesizing his public and private lives anddisclosing numerous family scandals, tragedies, and misfortunes never beforerevealed. Rockefeller's story captures a pivotal moment in American history,documenting the dramatic post-Civil War shift from small business to the riseof giant corporations that irrevocably transformed the nation. With cameos byJoseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, IdaTarbell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Jung, J. P. Morgan, William James, Henry ClayFrick, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, Titan turns Rockefeller's life intoa vivid tapestry of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies.
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