Titan: The Lifetime of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Nationwide E-book Critics Circle Award Finalist
 
From the acclaimed, award-winning creator of Alexander Hamilton: right here is the important, endlessly engrossing biography of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.—the Jekyll-and-Hyde of American capitalism. In the midst of his almost 98 years, Rockefeller was referred to as each a rapacious robber baron, whose Customary Oil Firm rode roughshod over an business, and a philanthropist who donated cash lavishly to universities and medical facilities. He was the fear of his opponents, the bogeyman of reformers, the delight of caricaturists—and an utter enigma.
 
Drawing on unprecedented entry to Rockefeller’s personal papers, Chernow reconstructs his topics’ troubled origins (his father was a swindler and a bigamist) and his single-minded pursuit of wealth. However he additionally uncovers the profound religiosity that drove him “to provide all I may”; his devotion to his father; and the wry humorousness that made him the nation’s most colourful codger. Titan is a powerful biography—balanced, revelatory, elegantly written.