Titan
- Author Ron Chernow
- Narrator Grover Gardner
- Publisher Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date 15 August 2013
- Run Time 35 hours and 4 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography: arts and entertainment, Biography: business and industry, Biography: general, Biography: historical, political and military, History of the Americas.
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What to expect
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 Ron Chernow, a National Book Award–winning biographer, gives us a detailed and insightful history of the mogul. Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist.
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.
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 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. A devout Baptist and temperance advocate, Rockefeller gave money more generously than anyone before him—his chosen philanthropies included the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of Chicago, and what is today Rockefeller University. Titan presents a finely nuanced portrait of a fascinating, complex man, synthesizing his public and private lives and disclosing numerous family scandals, tragedies, and misfortunes that have never before come to light.
John D. Rockefeller’s story captures a pivotal moment in American history, documenting the dramatic post–Civil War shift from small business to the rise of giant corporations that irrevocably transformed the nation. With cameos by Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, Ida Tarbell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Jung, J. P. Morgan, William James, Henry Clay Frick, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, Titan turns Rockefeller’s life into a vivid tapestry of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is Ron Chernow’s signal triumph that he writes this monumental saga with all the sweep, drama, and insight that this giant subject deserves.
Critics Review
u201cA scrupulously balanced, frequently fascinating, and humanizing portrait of a figure of seemingly superhuman energy and ambition.u201d
u201cOne of the great American biographies.u201d
u201cA biography that has many of the best attributes of a novelu2026Wonderfully fluent and compelling.u201d
u201cSweepingu2026Chernow lays out the [Rockefeller] conundrum superbly, delineating the forces that shaped this man and the ways he responded to them.u201d
u201cSplendidu2026A blue-chip biography.u201d
nu201cChernow has written the definitive biographies of two other legendary financial dynastiesu2026Now, with his Rockefeller biography, he has completed an extraordinary trilogy about the towering figures of twentieth-century commerce.u201d
u201cYou can read this book as a sympathetic portrait of a complex man, a business history, a legal battle, or simply as a great yarn.u201d
u201cStunningu2026Mr. Chernow has confirmed his reputation as a great business historian.u201d
u201cRon Chernowu2019s portrait of Rockefeller, an eccentric on a heroic scale as well as a genius, is convincingu2026This is the best biography of the man so far.u201d
u201cIt is hard to imagine a better biography of Rockefeller being writtenu2026An enthralling biography of an enthralling person.u201d
u201cWith uncanny timing, Ron Chernow has written a captivating biography of one of the most famous men in American business historyu2026Business needs more books like Titan.u201d
u201cA triumph of research, understanding, and elegant writing.u201d
u201c[No biographer] has been as skilled, or as exhaustive, as Ron Chernow.u201d
u201cA monumental and mesmerizing biographyu2026A fascinating yarn, capturing a man who insisted he could serve God and Mammon.u201d
u201cGood biographies are hard to find and great ones even rareru2026A thoughtful and balanced approach to one of the most significant and controversial lives of the past centuryu2026Spellbinding.u201d
u201cBy the time Chernow is finished, the old guy seems utterly humanu2026and oddly appealingu2026A timeless parable of our civilization.u201d
u201cA worthy biography of a truly titanic figure.u201d
u201cWhat a story! An outstanding business biography.u201d
u201cA masterful synthesis of research and writingu2026An extraordinary achievement in biography.u201d
u201cChernow, biographer of the Warburgs and the Morgans, has his finest subject in Rockefeller, and is able to furnish anecdotes galore from his encyclopedic research in the family archivesu2026Rather than the cunning, churchgoing hypocrite of legend who spent his Sundays piously but weekdays wrecking his rivals, Rockefeller emerges in Chernowu2019s elegantly told biography as an enterprising monopolist who u2018regarded God as an ally, a sort of honorary shareholder of Standard Oil.u2019u201d
u201cMost people nthink of the founder of Standard Oil as a cold, heartless capitalist whon cared for nothing but money and destroying the competition. This nbiography acknowledges Rockefelleru2019s dark side but also tries to show nhim as a man whose generosity still shapes our world. Narrator Grover nGardneru2019s deep, resonant voice is a wonderful accompaniment to the storyn of this Gilded Age robber baron. Gardneru2019s tone and inflection bring ton mind the mahogany-paneled clubs that were the refuges of the nnineteenth-century corporate elite, and he especially excels when nreading quotes from the leaders who lived during that era. Itu2019s an eliten performance without a hint of elitism, and, as Rockefeller himself nsurely would say, merits the investment in time and money.u201d
u201cThe archetypal American institution-builderu2014in industry, philanthropy, and the family dynasty bearing his nameu2014is etched with uncommon objectivity and literary grace by National Book Awardu2013winning business historian Chernowu2026Business biography on a grand scale.u201d
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