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In the intro to his book Ron Chernow finds fault with previous biographers of Rockefeller who only covered the tycoon's life up to his retirement. Midway into this 700-page volume it becomes obvious why: nothing interesting happened in the latter half of Rockefeller's life. The defense frequently offered of John D. Rockefeller's raptorial business practices (it features in Chernow's book) is that there was simply no legal apparatus in place at the time to prevent it. This amounts to the assertion that the school bully's behaviour only becomes unethical in the presence of the schoolmaster. Few reasonable people will buy the idea that Rockefeller's wholesale manipulation of the railroads and merciless squashing of even the most inncouous competitors can be dismissed as hunky-dory simply because it wasn't illegal. The chief acclaim accorded this book is that it is an objective portrayal of Rockefeller's character and deeds written by an author who is neither an admirer nor a despiser. Yet it's obvious, even from the title, that in an attempt to unravel the Sphinx, Chernow became enamoured with him. No moral pronoucements are made on Rockefeller's unethical practices, yet the silence reveals an unsettling admiration of the tycoon's sheer nerve. Lesser mortals such as Ida Tarbell and Colnel Potts are pigeonholed as deserving losers or frustrated grudge-bearers, despite the fact that Potts' only crime was to attempt to compete with Standard Oil, for example. It's a peculiarly ironic twist that seems to have escaped Chernow that his attempt to render an impartial portrayal of John D involved a decidedly partial portrayal of those who were not enamoured with him. Chernow doesn't seem to realise that an idea (here, that Rockefeller was not a pleasant character) is not responsible for the kind of people who believe in it - or their motivations for doing so. In short, the notion that Rockefeller behaved unethically isn't invalidated by the fact that his detractors might have had an attitude problem. The author tries to parry criticism of Rockefeller by resorting to ad hominem attacks.Chernow's mistake seems to be in thinking that a balanced consensus on a particular historical figure can attained by expounding a wilfully positive opinion of him that will help neutralise the predominantly negative view. This kind of thing always backfires, since all it does is make another contribution to the canon of partiality.Despite all these cavils, however, Chernow has a good writing style. The book is thoroughly researched and the first half of it is a very enjoyable read. It's worth a look, but with your eyes peeled for bias.

It looks like the world will never know just how Rockefeller built Standard Oil into the most powerful company of its time, if not all time. Chernow has done a remarkable job in assembling and organizing every scrap of known information about the man's life, but it's still not enough to make sense of his business dealings; barely one-third of the book covers the Standard Oil years, and what we get is too superficial and fragmentary to give a complete picture. Chernow scrupulously sticks to known facts, and refrains from any kind of speculation, but this is just not enough. We never get a sense of context, or any real unifying theme other than Rockefeller's secrecy, apparently because what is known is such a small part of what went on.Much better documented are Rockefeller's philanthropies, retirement lifestyle, and (especially) his family, so we get 400-odd pages on those topics. While this does give us a more complete picture of the man, it's a not terribly remarkable man, someone who basically spent the last half of his life playing golf, making small talk with his buddies, and getting depressed that his children didn't visit more often. We hear frequently about the ruthless, brilliant robber baron who was supposedly the same guy, but we never get to meet him, apparently because Rockefeller didn't want us to. Too bad.

Ron Chernow is as good a biographer as any writing today, and he continues to produce scholarly studies at a consistent level of excellence. He has now added his study of John D. Rockefeller Sr. in the form of "Titan" to his previously exceptional works, "The House Of Morgan", and 'The Warburgs". The reference I make to headlines has to do with Standard Oil and anti-trust issues, which I will come back to a bit later.The title of the book is appropriate as Mr. Rockefeller continually redefined what it meant to be wealthy, to be powerful, a ruthless competitor, and at times a businessman that would use violence if he felt it appropriate. He operated during a time when the constraints upon business were few, and the taxation of business was non-existent compared to today. This is not to detract from what he accomplished. Were he to have started his career recently his fortune may not have been quite so grand, but this was clearly an exceptional man, driven by his insatiable desire for the consolidation of power combined with his belief that what he did was what his God meant for him to do. He was the Paternalist, chosen to accumulate his great wealth, and then distribute it as he saw fit. This sense of divine right was not something I had read before and it added a quality that was almost surreal.Standard Oil is a name that has been in the headlines many times recently as people look to draw comparisons to the anti-trust issues that Microsoft is facing. The AT&T breakup is also mentioned, and for the reporter who digs a bit deeper, the break up of the aluminum monopoly. Every time the comparison is made to Standard Oil I get nauseated, and I believe for good reason.Mr. Rockefeller controlled not only commodities, but controlled the process from the time the raw material came from the ground, was refined, nearly anytime it was moved, pipelines, railroads, and their owners by requiring he be paid through preferential treatment at the expense of the few competitors that were constantly being erased. And his competitors were erased with private security forces, and lethal force if necessary.None of us can operate without oil, or its byproducts. This natural resource is unique and without it, to keep the issue local, this Country would simply stop. We went to war to ensure foreign supplies were not monopolized, the commodity is that important.If there is a meeting that 10 people travel to, they will all use a fossil fuel to get there. Your car, their car, the airplane, none are affected by what name brand of fuel they consume. A commodity is generic. Now the 10 arrive in a conference room and open 10 laptop computers. They have 10 different operating systems none of which work with the other. Standard Oil equals Microsoft?, would you go on National Television and utter something so utterly moronic?Disraeli said, "Read no history, nothing but biography, for that is life without theory." He did not say that autobiography should be read, nor what we are now often offered, the memoir, as the latter two by definition must be suspect as to objectivity. The authorized biography is a variant that again must be suspect to the extent it must past muster with the subject or the subject's heirs.Mr. Chernow demonstrates, like the few biographers writing at his level, how timeless the study of the individuals who "make" so much of our History is. It is unfortunate that so little History is accurately memorialized, and even worse, how those who are ignorant of the History they use, are so readily prepared to disperse it. The study of History is time consuming but almost effortless when written as well as "Titan". It is pathetic that so much of our History can be destroyed by the ill informed, the lazy, in a single sound bite.Mr. Chernow is a great asset to all of us, I wish only that more would read such work, be enriched by it, and demand more from those who disseminate bad information, who sadly are even ignorant of how wrong they are.

Chernow is one of the few biographers who can take an enormous amount of information on a subject and create a book that is even-handed and interesting. Since this is a figure that is both reviled and lionized, I think the author's purpose was to present all sides to this complex person and let the reader come to his own conclusions. Chernow's research of Rockefeller's childhood reveals a lot about the way he turned out as an adult, and the author's writing style points out both his strengths and shortcomings as well as showing how Standard Oil's rise to the top came about and the ruthless actions Rockefeller took to get it there. In the latter part of the book, as Rockefeller retires and ages, the book concentrates mostly on John Jr. as well as his daughters and heirs. While this was necessary for a complete story, I felt some of this could have been edited better. This is still a first-rate, detailed biography.

Being a former history I really enjoyed this book. This book tells of John D. Rockefeller's rise from abject poverty to the status of richest man in the universe. His creation and building of the Standard Oil empire is covered very well from start to finish in this excellent book. Many of the companies that were created as a result of the breakup of Standard Oil by the use of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act are industry giants today. His shortcomings are well outlined in this book also. This is an outstanding book that gave me a new respect for John D. Rockefeller and his industrial giant Standard Oil. Be sure to read this book.