Product Description

"There are worse men than John D. Rockefeller," Arena magazine observed at the turn of the century. "There is probably not one however, who in the public mind so typifies the grave and startling menace to social order." The son of a flamboyant bigamist and pedlar of patent medicine, Rockefeller was by then America's richest man, the mastermind and creator of the country's first and most powerful monopoly: the Standard Oil Company. Reaching into every household across America, Standard Oil controlled 90 per cent of all oil refined in the US, as well as its production, transportation, marketing and distribution. The story of Rockefeller, is one of a pivotal moment in US history: the shift, after the Civil War, from small-scale business to economy of scale and the development of the first modern corporation. This biography explores that transition in all its nuances - the rise in labour militancy, the tabloid press and large-scale philanthropy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27925 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 832 pages

Review
A 'revisionist' life of the billionaire monopolist whose standard oil company once dominated the American oil industry. Notorious in his day for his unscrupulous business practices, Rockefeller's more human side is portrayed here. Son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake oil salesman and a pious, strait-laced mother, he is shown as a quirky eccentric, a Baptist temperance advocate and a philanthropist on a grand scale with more than his fair share of family scandals, tragedies and misfortunes to put up with. (Kirkus UK)

The archetypal American institution-builder - in industry, philanthropy, and the family dynasty bearing his name - is etched with uncommon objectivity and literary grace by National Book Award-winning business historian Chernow (The Death of the Banker, 1997, etc.). "Silence, mystery, and evasion" perpetually enveloped the founder of the world's first great industrial trust, enabling him to crush rivals to his Standard Oil Co. The same cocoon presented daunting obstacles to earlier chroniclers of John D. Rockefeller Sr., both detractors (crusading muckraker Ida Tarbell) and supporters (Allan Nevins). Greater access to family archives, including a 1,700-page interview given by Rockefeller in retirement, enable Chernow to tear at this membrance of artifice and to offer as detailed, balanced, and psychologically insightful a portrait of the tycoon as we may ever have. Chernow traces Rockefeller's contradictory impulses toward greed and godliness to his parents. His father, who abandoned the family for years at a time to ply rustic innocents with patent medicines, left him with shameful secrets (e.g., bigamy and a rape indictment) and acquisitive instincts; his mother instilled a devotion to the Baptist faith that manifested itself in philanthropy. Chernow is careful to deny some of the hoariest myths of Rockefeller demonology, to detail his managerial gifts, and to underscore his crimes (his alliance with railroads in the shell organization the South Improvement Company involved rebates, insider intelligence, and "grand-scale collusion such as American industry had never witnessed"). Above all, he offers a figure abounding in paradox: the prototypical monopolist who sought to eliminate what he saw as wasteful competition, only to spark an antitrust suit that forced the dissolution of his company; a homeopathy advocate who funded medical research that marginalized this form of medicine; and a tightly wound, self-possessed, despised businessman who in his 40-year retirement displayed a joy in play and a talent for charming reporters, winning the affection of the world. Business biography on a grand scale. (Kirkus Reviews)

WALL STREET JOURNAL
"Brilliantly researched and written"

About the Author
Ron Chernow has been a business reporter for over 20 years. He won the prestigious National Book Award for THE HOUSE OF MORGAN and is regarded as one of the very finest business historians and biographers.

Customer Reviews

Difficult to imagine how it could be done better
I'm currently working my way through the list of twenty books Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett's partner) recommends in the second edition of Poor Charlie's Almanack (very highly recommended). Thus, I am reading books I frankly wouldn't otherwise be (which I'm feeling increasingly sure reflected poorly on me) and I therefore feel somewhat less certain about my opinions. For example, I've read very few biographies and so it's harder for me to compare it to others.

With that caveat, I do read a lot, and I know an excellent book when I come across one - and Titan (2nd edition, 2004, 679 pages) is first rate. The author has clearly done a staggering amount of research, writes well and clearly and is admirably even-handed in his approach (so much as one can tell without reading the background material oneself). I think these are probably the three key factors in producing a biography and it is difficult to find fault in his approach to any of them.

Rockefeller comes across as a fascinatingly strange mixture of cold hearted and genial, a hyper-religious bandit who was convinced that his was God's work even when it involved political bribery and industrial espionage on a grand scale. I found it particularly interesting that he was not considered in any way remarkable in his abilities whilst at school - it appears his success was mainly due to his utterly relentless approach and self-discipline. There are many other interesting subtexts that emerge through the book, such as the enormous difficulty in preventing great wealth from destroying family relations.

My approach to reading my way through Munger's list is to devote an hour to reading each day before I do anything else (I found that was the only way to ensure it got done). Towards the end of Titan I realised that I found it more interesting than the (good) thriller I was reading and I suspect that is the final accolade. The excerpt from the New York Times review quoted on the front of Titan describes it as `A biography that has many of the best attributes of a novel....". So this is a book where you really can have your cake and eat it: you get to learn without giving up any time from entertainment. Highly recommended.

AWESOME
This is my first ever review on Amazon and I'm only one third of the way through this incredible book. I have studied a great many management books and believe me this one is for real - how Rockefeller brilliantly took control of the entire Oil industry is a fascinating read. The author has researched the family history and his insight into Rockefellers childhood and relationship with his father and how this shaped his later life is brilliantly portrayed.

The richest man who provided for the world!
I only bought this book because Amazon recommended it to me. I didn't really think it would be all that interesting and the massive number of pages meant it would be a daunting read.
It is actually an amazing account of the life and time of John D Rockefeller and his close family. The deals done and the plans laid meant that he became the richest man every to have walked the earth - being worth (in modern money) the combined worth of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mr WalMart three times over.
The book itself explains about his methods in business and how the combination of his intellect, planning and attention to detail lead to his immense wealth.
Towards the end of his business career, the book shows how the breakup of his company (Standard Oil) became inevitable; but lead to his wealth increasing every more quickly after he retired from running the business.
Thereafter the book charts his gentle retirement, setting up the University of Chicago, medical foundations in New York and the deep south, national parks, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and countless other world-class institutions.
The sadness of the death of his wife and his own death some years later, is tempered by the knowledge that he used his wealth to provide more of a benefit to mankind than any other human being.
This book is a truly amazing read and Ron Charnow was rightly awarded huge acclaim for the work he did.
Buy the book and read it for yourself - you won't regret it!