| Description |
xxii, 774 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
Machine derived contents note: Foreword xiii -- Prelude: Poison Tongue xix -- 1 The Flimflam Man 3 -- 2. Fires of Revival 15 -- 3. Bound to Be Rich 37 -- 4. Baptism in Business 63 -- 5. The Auction 73 -- 6. The Poetry of the Age 97 -- 7. Millionaires' Row 119 -- 8. Conspirators 129 -- 9. The New Monarch 157 -- 10. Sphinx 173 -- 11. The Holy Family 183 -- 12. Insurrection in the Oil Fields 197 -- 13. Seat of Empire 217 -- 14. The Puppeteer 243 -- 15. Widow's Funeral 271 -- 16. A Matter of Trust 283 -- 17. Captains of Erudition 299 -- 18. Nemesis 331 -- 19. The Dauphin 347 -- 20. The Standard Oil Crowd 361 -- 21. The Enthusiast 397 -- 22. Avenging Angel 425 -- 23. Faith of Fools 467 -- 24. The Millionaires' Special 481 -- 25. The Codger 501 -- 26. The World's Richest Fugitive 519 -- 27. Judgment Day 537 -- 28. Benevolent Trust 561 -- 29. Massacre 571 -- 30. Introvert and Extrovert 591 -- 31. Confessional 609 -- 32. Dynastic Succession 621 -- 33. Past. Present, Future 631 -- 34. Heirs 649 -- 35. See You in Heaven 663 -- Acknowledgments 677 -- Notes 681 -- Bibliography 737 -- Index 751 |
| Summary |
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 new evidence of Rockefeller's misdeeds, Chernow discards the stereotype of the cold-blooded monster to sketch an unforgettably human portrait of a quirky eccentric original |
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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. Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller's exceptionally rich trove of papers. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world's richest man by creating America's most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [737]-749) and index |
| Subject |
Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937.
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Capitalists and financiers -- United States -- Biography.
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Industrialists -- United States -- Biography.
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Philanthropists -- United States -- Biography.
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| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
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| LC no. |
97033117 |
| ISBN |
0679438084 (alk. paper) |
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0679757031 (paperback) |
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