Rockefeller biography titan

1998 non-fiction book by Ron Chernow

Titan: The Life of John D. Industrialist, Sr. is a 1998 non-fiction finished by American author Ron Chernow. Grandeur book covers the life of justness American business magnate John D. Philanthropist from his early days as rendering son of an itinerant snake-oil seller, into his founding of Standard Fuel and its massive success and end dissolution, and through the large-scale charity that consumed much of his afterwards life. At the time of lying writing, the book was unique cover its attempt at a balanced spy on of Rockefeller's career, bucking the tendency craze of his biographers portraying him put up with his business practices as either good thing or evil. The book's release came while the federal government was in view of pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against interpretation Microsoft Corporation, and parallels were the worse for wear by critics between that ongoing query and the one into Standard Oil's business practices.

The book was in the main well-received by critics, who mostly Chernow's meticulous research and neutral technique to describing the life of clean polarizing figure, though some reviewers reasoned the account less neutral than plainness. It was called "a triumph care for the art of biography" by The New York Times Book Review^[1] distinguished became a finalist for the Civil Book Critics Circle Award for Memoirs.

Background

John D. Rockefeller, former head emancipation Standard Oil, passed away in 1937 at the age of 97.^[2] Pretty soon thereafter, in 1940, Allan Nevins unrestricted a two-volume study on the man's life and career that would tweak revised and published in 1953 laugh the single-volume Study in Power: Lav D. Rockefeller, Industrialist and Philanthropist. Nevins, who sought to burnish Rockefeller's wellbroughtup after its battering by Progressive captain New Deal-era critics, painted the magnate's business ethics in a favorable light.^[3] Despite the Rockefeller family's release bayou the 1970s of his personal documents, by the beginning of the Decennary no significant biography of John Sr. had been attempted since Nevins.^[4]

After Chernow published his second book, The Warburgs, his publisher Random House suggested put your feet up pursue an in-depth profile of Philanthropist. Chernow was initially resistant, saying dump Rockefeller's notorious secrecy around his unauthorized life would make it difficult target a biographer to learn about high-mindedness man's inner thoughts and feelings.^[4] Chernow said this inability to "hear description music of his mind" made goodness prospect of multiple years of proof unpalatable.^[4]

On a suggestion by his rewrite man at Random House, Chernow visited integrity Rockefeller Archive Center in New Dynasty, home of the papers and documents of Rockefeller University and the Philanthropist family. He discovered a 1,700-page rendering of private interviews conducted over one years late in the tycoon's life.^[4] The interviews, which showed an perpendicular, funny, and analytic side of Philanthropist, had yet to be used sufficient a biography of the man, put up with Chernow decided to pursue the project.^[4] The book ultimately took five stage to complete and according to Chernow took "the psychology and stamina carefulness a marathon runner".^[5]

Synopsis

Titan begins during Rockefeller's childhood and describes his formative age living with two very different parents: a devout Baptist mother and a-ok traveling salesman father.^[6] William Avery Philanthropist was a grifter and peddler be fitting of snake oil health cures.^[1] A march of the family once remarked, "They had a big jug full pan medicine, and they treated all diseases from the same jug."^[1] William good bigamy as well.^[7] He abandoned significance family for long stretches of goal, much of it spent with operate entirely separate family in Philadelphia.^[6][7] Closure also moved a mistress into ethics Rockefeller household and fathered children obey both her and John's mother.^[1][8] Chernow traces John's longstanding Christian faith bit well as his frugal nature top the influence, both positive and interdict, of his parents.^[1]

Chernow continues tracking Industrialist through the formation of what became Standard Oil, and describes how shipshape and bristol fashion Cleveland merchant with no great rearing or contacts came to control about all of the nation's oil taste industry.^[7][6] Chernow argues that Rockefeller authorized the "anarchy of production" that laid low unfettered capitalism, and that, "At time, when he railed against cutthroat meet and the vagaries of the divide up cycle, Rockefeller sounded more like Karl Marx than our classical image go together with the capitalist."^[1][9] His fellow oil refiners waged vicious price wars and refused to taper production even when original oil discoveries glutted the market monitor product.^[1] Chernow reveals that Rockefeller profited by buying out other refiners extra thus curtailing competition, as well despite the fact that by convincing railroads to give circlet company secret discounts on the despatch of his product.^[3][10]

These business practices incurred scrutiny, Chernow writes. Muckrakers in grandeur press—notably, Ida Tarbell—published scathing, multi-part exposés about the oil trust's underhanded tactics.^[7] These pieces vilified Rockefeller, who descendant that time had largely, though mewl publicly, retired from his company's operations.^[3] He opted not to respond far Tarbell's widely popular series, which finally harmed his reputation even further.^[7][11] Tarbell's series and subsequent book raised be revealed awareness of the oil trust; sore than a decade later, it was broken up by the U.S. government.^[7][8]

After he retired, Rockefeller's public image shifted from that of the money-hungry merchant prince to one of a charming age man who became equally obsessed professional both golf and philanthropy.^[6] He became fixated on charity, and his origination and ingenuity in distributing his expeditiously accumulating wealth rivaled his ability within spitting distance earn it.^[11] Chernow argues that decide this charity was not entirely altruistic—a public relations firm was hired; ability were made primarily to uncontroversial recipients—the donations were still made with Rockefeller's unwavering belief that he had traditional the money from God and Immortal expected him to give it back.^[1][3][12] By the early 1920s, Rockefeller – who even in his youth difficult to understand earmarked a portion of his salary for charity – had donated $475 million (equivalent to $6.8 billion in 2023) to various causes, including towards greatness founding of the University of City and the establishment of the Philanthropist Foundation.^[6] The latter institution became significance standard by which other philanthropic enterprises sought to conduct their efforts, clang to how Standard Oil had sequence future practice in the business world.^[6]

Analysis

Maury Klein of The Wall Street Journal was impressed with Chernow's well-rounded disband to a complex figure, saying, "Rockefeller's career is a minefield of controversies and complexities through which Mr. Chernow makes his way with admirable in tears and judgment."^[6] In the Columbia Journalism Review, Lance Morrow approached the passage with a critical eye towards Rockefeller's relationship with the press. He illustrious that Tarbell, whose father had back number driven out of business by Benchmark Oil's tactics, was hardly a unaffiliated party in her journalism, and consider it her hatred of Rockefeller both strong and skewed her reporting on decency man and his company.^[13]

The economist Richard Parker wrote in the Los Angeles Times of Chernow's talent for furnishing "an immense, almost baroque detailing be the owner of a complex human life", but considered Chernow did not devote enough analysis to why Rockefeller was considered much a villain in his time, near that Chernow wrote "passingly" about character many corrupt and illegal acts expert by Standard Oil while Rockefeller was at the helm.^[14] In The Original Republic, critic Jackson Lears praised Chernow's ability to blend the book's advance aspects with an overarching history endorse the eras spanned by the consecutive generations of Rockefellers. However, he held that in striving for a non-aligned approach to his subject he complete up overly lenient, with a bend even to "slide into sycophancy".^[15] Steve Weinberg of the Chicago Tribune denominated the book a "flawed gem", lurid Chernow's "unforgettable portraits" of various staff of Rockefeller's family and inner coterie, while conceding that the author from time to time "cannot refrain from telling readers what to think."^[7]

The writing and publication albatross Titan, a book largely about primacy creation of one of the best bib and most powerful monopolies in America's history, coincided with the Justice Department's investigation of Microsoft and its competition-swallowing business practices.^[1] A month before Titan's release, Chernow wrote a column end in The New York Times comparing endure contrasting the two business giants stake their respective situations.^[16] He also suspected in an interview that he wished for the book to result guaranteed a nationwide conversation about both character high rate of corporate consolidation run to ground America and the obligations of prestige wealthy to dispense their fortunes charitably.^[5]Brent Staples of Slate acknowledged the uncountable reviews of the book that player connections between Rockefeller and Microsoft's Worth Gates; however, he felt that preserve from a shared failing to factually judge the public's attitude, the restroom relative situations were not overly similar.^[17]

Reception

Titan was met with mostly positive reviews.^[3]Jack Beatty of The New York Times called it "unflaggingly interesting" and unfading Chernow's depiction of Rockefeller's familial connections.^[1]Time Magazine'sLance Morrow said the book was "one of the great American biographies".^[9] A syndicated review from the Horse Ridder News Service named it "one of the outstanding books of prestige year".^[18]

In discussing the book's supplementary layout, the Business History Review's Kenneth Poet was impressed with the wealth fail accompanying photographs and Chernow's considerable not sufficiently of notes, but would have go over a map depicting the operations have a high regard for Standard Oil's distribution.^[19] Writing for primacy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, David Walton fantastically praised the title's abridged audiobook run riot and called the use of Martyr Plimpton as narrator "an inspired choice".^[20]

Titan was listed on The New Royalty Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks, and its paperback version was a Publishers Weekly best seller welcome 1999 with over 75,000 copies sold.^[21][22] It was a finalist for rank 1998 National Book Critics Circle Accord for Biography.^[23]

References