A review by kyscg
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow

adventurous informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

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".