Titan

Ron Chernow's first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award and the Ambassador Award for the year's best study of American culture. His second book, The Warburgs, won the Eccles Prize as the Best Business Book of 1993 and was also selected by the American Library Association as one of that year's best nonfiction books. In reviewing his recent collection of essays, The Death of the Banker, The New York Times called the author "as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we've seen in decades and chose the paperback original as one of the year's Notable Books.

出版者:Vintage

作者:Ron Chernow

页数:832

出版时间:2004-3-30

价格:USD 20.00

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9781400077304

图书标签:传记Biography英文原版管理人物Rockefeller经济美国

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, the National Book Award-winning biographer of the Morgan and Warburg banking families, gives us a history of the mogul "etched with uncommon objectivity and literary grace . . . as detailed, balanced, and psychologically insightful a portrait of the tycoon as we may ever have" (Kirkus Reviews). 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 will indelibly alter 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 new 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--his chosen philanthropies included the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of Chicago, and what is today Rockefeller University--than anyone before him. 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. Pierpont 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 narrates this monumental saga with all the sweep, drama, and insight that this giant subject deserves.

From the Hardcover edition.

读后感

洛克菲勒是谁？这似乎是个不用问的问题，但是却恐怕也是个没有标准答案的问题。有人会淡淡的说他是曾经的标准石油公司的头头儿，再补充说说标准公司解体的事儿；有人会义愤填膺的历数以他为代表的一代强盗资本家们罄竹难书的卑劣行径；有人会感情真挚的向您讲述他在慈善事...  

最近一段时间通过喜马拉雅听完了洛克菲勒给儿子的38封信和洛克菲勒日记，主要是在班车上以及开车时候，有段时间甚至有点沉迷于此，在睡觉前以及运动时候都在听。 早年岁月与赚钱的渴望。洛克菲勒很早就独立了，无论是思想上还是经济上，洛克菲勒为什么从小就想赚钱的一个重要原...  

冷静 控制 理智 这是我从这本书领悟到的 冷静到甚至冷酷 控制到残忍 理智到无情 ...  

1、他很少有过孩子那种发自内心的快乐和无忧无虑。作为一个肩负职责的小大人，他养成了一种终身不变的自我夸大的责任感。 2、记住别人告诉你的东西很重要，比你自己早已知道的东西更重要。 3、开采商们对他的愤怒实际上是出于嫉妒和虚伪。这些开发商……坚持认为运费折扣是错...  

洛克菲勒是谁？这似乎是个不用问的问题，但是却恐怕也是个没有标准答案的问题。有人会淡淡的说他是曾经的标准石油公司的头头儿，再补充说说标准公司解体的事儿；有人会义愤填膺的历数以他为代表的一代强盗资本家们罄竹难书的卑劣行径；有人会感情真挚的向您讲述他在慈善事...  

用户评价

前五章后八章 风光飘散，请哲学席卷身体

洛克菲勒是个基督徒。他总认为上帝会让他富有，同时也为了不辜负上帝他很勤恳的工作。很奇妙的想法。

工商巨子: 他具有节俭自力更生勤奋和不屈不挠的事业心等所有优点. 然而, 由于无视政府和任意践踏竞争者, 他也成了许多极端罪恶的化身.

工商巨子: 他具有节俭自力更生勤奋和不屈不挠的事业心等所有优点. 然而, 由于无视政府和任意践踏竞争者, 他也成了许多极端罪恶的化身.

工商巨子: 他具有节俭自力更生勤奋和不屈不挠的事业心等所有优点. 然而, 由于无视政府和任意践踏竞争者, 他也成了许多极端罪恶的化身.