Titan
Titan is the endlessly riveting biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr., the Jekyll-and-Hyde of American capitalism. Over his nearly 98 years, he was known as both a rapacious robber baron and a philanthropist who donated money generously to universities and medical centers. An absolute enigma, Rockefeller was recognized as the terror of his competitors, the delight of the caricaturist, and the bogeyman of reformers. Drawing upon unprecedented access to Rockefeller’s private papers, Titan is a magnificent biography—balanced, revelatory, elegantly written.
“A biography that has many of the best attributes of a novel. . . . Wonderfully fluent and compelling.”
— The New York Times
“A triumph of the art of biography. Unflaggingly interesting, it brings John D. Rockefeller Sr. to life through sustained narrative portraiture of the large-scale, nineteenth-century kind.”
— The New York Times Book Review
“Important and impressive. . . . Reveals the man behind both the mask and the myth.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“One of the great American biographies. . . . [Chernow] writes with rich impartiality. He turns the machinations of Standard Oil . . . into fascinating social history.”
— Time