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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I decided to read this book because I realized I knew nothing about Rockefeller, but my freshman dorm 24 years ago had been in a building named for him (and, reportedly, funded by him). I was curious to know more about him. Turns out he was hugely supportive of funding education (Spellman, U Chicago, Rockefeller University, and clearly more) despite being a sometimes very shady businessman! It was nice to place his history in context, to learn about all these institutions that were funded because of him or his son (son: Rockefeller Center, the MoMa (his own home torn down to build the building!)). Unfortunately, there was no mention of his contribution to Bryn Mawr College's campus, nor what I could only imagine was an interesting interaction with M. Carey Thomas, the president of the college who must've been the one to approach him. There was one tiny reference--he was once called back to his office from a luncheon at Bryn Mawr, but the year of that luncheon doesn't align with Rock (it's many years later) so he must have had some kind of ongoing relationship but it isn't explored in the book.
I confess there were probably long stretches of the book where I tuned out, but overall, an interesting biography.
I confess there were probably long stretches of the book where I tuned out, but overall, an interesting biography.
A masterful achievement in biographical scholarship.
informative
slow-paced
It's a great read that took me ages to get through. As for the quality of the biography itself, it's very readable and I had no problem putting this down for like a year and picking up where I left off later on. The information Chernow was able to provide is impressive. Getting such insight into the life of one of the most influential capitalists ever was awesome. Lots of aspects of his life were outstanding but the one that stood out most to me was his capacity to be ruthless in business and pious in his personal life. Especially since this never seemed to give him qualms.
OK, this was a massive book. Took me a long while to finish it, however I have to say the author did an outstanding work, this was one of most thorough biography works I've read. A deep investigation into the many sides of Rockefeller's life; private, family, business. From a look into his upbringing all through his descendants' lives. I learned a lot about this man's life, the bad and the good.
Excellent work by Ron Chernow, for anyone interested in the life of John D. Rockefeller, the man that changed the world in industry, philanthropy, and built the biggest fortune in history by his time; this is the definitive one.
Excellent work by Ron Chernow, for anyone interested in the life of John D. Rockefeller, the man that changed the world in industry, philanthropy, and built the biggest fortune in history by his time; this is the definitive one.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
He was methodical to an extreme, careful as to details and exacting to a fraction.
When you read a book of this magnitude, you always have a moment when something profound strikes you. It was when I was nearing the book's midpoint, and I read that John D. had retired, or more like, gave away most duties to Archbold. So that meant that more than half of the book was dedicated to his life after Standard Oil. I wasn't expecting this, but now that I've finished reading the book, I realize how much more should have been there.
Titan, derived from the Greek Τιτάν, initially referring to the offspring of the sky and the earth, were larger than life, primordial to the gods, all-encompassing, all-powerful beings. You tend to lose sight of Rockefeller's status as you read episode after episode of him conducting history-making events. When Chernow addresses him as the Titan a few times in the book, you pause to think about it, and it hits you.
John D. Rockefeller evokes so many conflicting emotions in you; you alternate from admiration to perplexion, to alarm, to wonder, and then back to respect. You can tell what drove him; he made money for the sole purpose of making money and then gave it away with pinpoint precision, aimed at the best causes of his times. He was adamant about his name not going to anything he gave to, which led to me being surprised throughout the book that he was the cause for so many great institutions to rise. To my frustration, he evades all attempts to stereotype him. He makes it even more complicated by being evasive and secretive on purpose. He worked with feverish devotion and made every move after being frustratingly slow and careful; his schedule was rigid, he had no impulses, and he was obsessively pedantic about his money. On the other hand, he retired very young and spent the rest of his life with youthful energy with his family in the estates he built.
There were so many big names sprinkled throughout his life that I did not know that he founded the University of Chicago or was the first to start funding large-scale medical research (the vaccine against hookworm and malaria treatment research). Names like Helen Keller, who was partially given financial assistance by Rockefeller, Ida Tarbell, who was Rockefeller's kryptonite and successfully brought to light the unsavoury aspects of his rise to the top, and Mark Twain, I learnt that the MoMA was founded by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of Junior, Carl Jung who treated his daughter Edith in Europe and then got funded by Rockefeller money, Frederick T. Gates who helped Rockefeller invest and give away his money wisely and Teddy Roosevelt, who was a master politician, and always seemed to get away with double-crossing Standard Oil.
Chernow writes this biography with all the colour of a novel; he takes care to psychologically delve into Rockefeller's early days, which leaves us wanting more. However, I wasn't too fond of all the discussion about Rockefeller's minor satellites, like his work with the Baptist church or Junior's life and heirs. While they were essential to his life, I wanted more of John D. than the others. There's also an unnecessary theme throughout the book that Rockefeller was not as sinister as Tarbell made him out to be, which felt too much like "the lad doth protest too much".
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
It's pretty hard to read a history of modern capitalism without stopping at the feet of John Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, what we know now as Exxon-Mobil. Ron Chernow has given us a magical key to that story, how a bookkeeper came to control the world of oil, and metamorphosed into one if not the world's greatest philanthropists.