Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Front cover
Author	Ron Chernow
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Non-fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	1998
Media type	Print, e-book
Pages	774 pages
ISBN	0679438084

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. is a 1998 non-fiction book by American author Ron Chernow. The book covers the life of the American business magnate John D. Rockefeller from his early days as the son of an itenerant snake oil salesman, into his founding of Standard Oil and its massive success and eventual dissolution, and through the large-scale philanthropy that consumed much of his later life. At the time of its writing, the book was unique in its balanced view of Rockefeller's career, bucking the trend of his biographers portraying him and his business practices as either inherently good or inherently evil. The book was well received by critics, who praised Chernow's meticulous research and neutral approach to describing the life of a polarizing figure. Called "a triumph of the art of biography" by The New York Times Book Review, it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.

Background

As of the 1990s, a significant biography on the life of John D. Rockefeller hadn't been written since Allan Nevins published a two-volume study in 1940 (which was later revised into the 1953 single-volume Study in Power: John D. Rockefeller, Industrialist and Philanthropist). Nevins's account, in attempting to burnish Rockefeller's reputation following its battering in the hands of Progressive and New Deal-era critics, painted his business ethics in a favorable light.

Following the publication of his second book, The Warburgs, Chernow's publisher Random House suggested he follow that title up with a biography of Rockefeller. Chernow was initially resistant, citing Rockefeller's notorious secrecy around his private life as a reason why a biographer would have difficulty accessing the man's inner thoughts and feelings. According to Chernow, this inability to "hear the music of his mind" made the prospect of multiple years of research otherwise untenable.

Chernow's editor at Random House convinced him to visit the Rockefeller Archive Center in New York, home of the papers and records of Rockefeller University and the Rockefeller family. There Chernow was given access to a 1,700-page transcript of a private interview, conducted over the course of three years during the latter part of the tycoon's life. The interview, which features an articulate, funny, and analytic side of Rockefeller, had yet to be used as material for any biography of the man, and Chernow decided then to go forward with the project.

The writing and publication of Titan, a book largely about the creation of one of the largest and most powerful monopolies in America's history, coincided with the Justice Department's investigation of Microsoft and its competition-swallowing business practices. A month before Titan's release, Chernow wrote a column in The New York Times comparing and contrasting the two business giants and their respective situations.

Synopsis

Rockfeller at 22 years old

Titan begins during Rockefeller's childhood and describes his formative years living with two very different parents: a devout Baptist mother and a traveling salesman father. William Avery Rockefeller was a grifter and peddler of snake oil health cures. A neighbor once remarked that "[t]hey had a big jug full of medicine, and they treated all diseases from the same jug." William practiced bigamy as well. He abandoned the family for long stretches of time, much of it spent with an entirely separate family in Philadelphia. He also moved a mistress into the Rockefeller household and bore children with both her and John's mother. Due to and in spite of his upbringing, Chernow traces John's longstanding Christian faith as well as his frugal nature to the influence of his parents.

Chernow continues tracking Rockefeller through the formation of what became Standard Oil, and describes how a Cleveland merchant with no great education or contacts came to control nearly all of the nation's oil refining industry. Rockefeller, like Karl Marx before him, recognized the "anarchy of production" that plagued unfettered capitalism. His fellow oil refiners waged vicious price wars and refused to taper production even when new oil discoveries glutted the market with product. Chernow writes, "At times, when he railed against cutthroat competition and the vagaries of the business cycle, Rockefeller sounded more like Karl Marx than our classical image of the capitalist." Chernow reveals that Rockefeller's most significant successes came in both buying out other refiners and thus curtailing competition, as well as convincing the major East Coast railroads to give his company sweetheart deals on the shipment of his product.

Ida Tarbell

The author goes on to recount the subsequent scrutiny such business practices incurred. Muckrakers in the press – most notably Ida Tarbell – published scathing multi-part exposés revealing the underhanded tactics regularly used by the oil trust. Rockefeller was vilified in these pieces, despite by that time having largely (though not publicly) retired from his company's operations. He opted not to respond to Tarbell's widely popular series, which ultimately harmed his reputation even further. Tarbell's series and subsequent book raised public awareness of the oil trust; less than a decade later, it was broken up by the U.S. government.

Following his retirement, Rockefeller devoted much of his time to massive philanthropic efforts. Chernow argues that while this charity was not entirely altruistic (a public relations firm was hired and gifts were made primarily to uncontroversial recipients), the donations were still made with Rockefeller's unwavering belief that he had received the money from God and God expected him to give it back. By the early 1920s, Rockefeller had donated $475 million to various causes, including towards the founding of the University of Chicago and the establishment of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Reception

Titan was met with mostly positive reviews. Jack Beatty of The New York Times called it "unflaggingly interesting" and praised Chernow's depiction of Rockefeller's familial connections. Maury Klein of The Wall Street Journal was impressed with Chernow's well-rounded approach to a complex figure, saying, "Rockefeller's career is a minefield of controversies and complexities through which Mr. Chernow makes his way with admirable balance and judgment." Time Magazine's Lance Morrow said the book was "one of the great American biographies". The economist Richard Parker wrote in the Los Angeles Times of Chernow's talent for providing "an immense, almost baroque detailing of a complex human life", but believed Chernow did not devote enough scrutiny to why Rockefeller was considered such a villain in his time and wrote "passingly" about the many corrupt and illegal acts practiced by Standard Oil while Rockefeller was at the helm. Steve Weinberg of the Chicago Tribune called the book a "flawed gem", citing Chernow's "unforgettable portraits" of various members of Rockefeller's family and inner circle, while conceding that the author occasionally "cannot refrain from telling readers what to think."

Titan was a finalist for the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.