Tags
biographies, book reviews, GIlded Age, John D. Rockefeller, Robber barons, Ron Chernow, Standard Oil
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
by Ron Chernow
832 pages
Random House (Vintage Books)
Published: May 1998
“Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” is the fourth of seven books Ron Chernow has written. Among his others are the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Washington: A Life,” the widely-acclaimed “Alexander Hamilton,” his inaugural book “The House of Morgan” and his recent biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
Anyone familiar with Chernow’s writing will quickly recognize his trademark style. This book’s narrative is uncommonly engaging, exceptionally insightful, appropriately thorough and magnificently eloquent. Chernow has a knack for choosing incredibly interesting biographical subjects and then thoroughly researching, dissecting and conveying their essence in a fluent and incisive manner.
The famously taciturn (and often expressionless) Rockefeller is carefully uncovered layer-by-layer and ends up a far more intriguing and multi-faceted individual than many readers might expect. If not quite someone I’d want to grab a drink with (he was a lifelong teetotaler in any event) this “desiccated fossil” of the Gilded Age turns out to be extraordinarily interesting…and incredibly human.
The narrative does a terrific job reviewing Rockefeller’s childhood, revealing his parents’ backgrounds (and pathologies) and exploring which personality traits they each passed on to him. It will not take most readers long to realize that Rockefeller’s father – also known as “Devil Bill” – deserves a biography all to himself.
In later chapters, coverage of Rockefeller’s wife, children and his sons- and daughter-in-law proves outstanding. Each of these family members, along with several of his unrelated contemporaries, essentially receive their own riveting mini-biographies.
Other excellent aspects of the book include its review of the important role Christianity played in Rockefeller’s life, careful analyses of Standard Oil’s strategic objectives and concomitant business tactics, and a marvelous chapter documenting Rockefeller’s relationships with fellow Robber barons Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan.
But no biography of Rockefeller would be complete without devoting considerable attention to the work of muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell. Her groundbreaking nineteen-part series on Standard Oil exposed Rockefeller’s monopolistic business practices and helped lead to its dissolution in 1911. Chernow’s review of Tarbell’s work and its impact on Rockefeller’s personal and professional lives is superb.
If this biography of John D. Rockefeller is not perfect, its flaws are few and far between. Some readers may be bothered by the author’s reluctance to skim the tree tops on some less-interesting topics; Chernow consistently chooses to fully investigate not only what happened but also why.
In addition, while this is not a particularly difficult read, the narrative does not lend itself to high-speed consumption. On many pages, every sentence seems meticulously designed for maximum potency – with virtually no extraneous verbiage. That, along with the book’s length, makes this a more demanding than average biographical journey…but with commensurate compensation, to be sure.
Overall, Ron Chernow’s “Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” ranks among the very best of the nearly 300 biographies I’ve read. As only a masterful biographer can manage, Chernow expertly analyzes and fully humanizes his subject. With a brilliantly crafted narrative and penetrating style, this biography will appeal to nearly anyone with an interest in the Gilded Age, the use of unrestrained corporate power, or an incredibly compelling life story.
Overall rating: 4¾ stars
Reading the Best Biographies of All Time 
I’ve read all of Chernow’s bios and he manages to get the most information in one volume than anyone I have ever read. There is usually left little to say about the subject once Chernow gets done. I agree with your comments.
Notably, I’ve not yet read “The House of Morgan”…despite having spent the bulk of my career at one of the “House’s” descendants. But I obviously loved Chernow’s bios of Washington and Hamilton and really liked his biography of Grant. I can’t imagine trying to write a bio of someone Chernow has already tackled… 🙂
Agree with all of your comments! I loved this one too (I too, have read all of them except the one on Morgan). But you are a tough grader, my friend! Wondering which bios you have given 5 stars too, if any, for this one not to be among them. The bar is truly set very high.
It is, perhaps, ironic that my only full-5-star reviews were Chernow’s bios of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. I graded his recent bio of Ulysses Grant a 4.5 star experience, and this one was oh-so-close to “perfection” but…
I really enjoyed this one also.
Steve,
I’ve been looking forward to your review, as I follow your contributions intently. I think the slight lesser review of this one from Hamilton and Washington was that Chernow was still in his relatively early days. I’ve found that House of Morgan isn’t quite at this level. Having said that, this was the first of 4(!) of Chernow’s books that made my book of the year list for my daily radio book review.
A couple of tidbits I found interesting was that after Morgan and Titan, Chernow announced his next book was Hamilton. He took a lot of criticism from early American historians who acknowledged his abilities with nineteenth century financial history, but didn’t think it would translate to the Revolutionary period. Well, we all know how that turned out. The second was that Chernow’s wife tragically succumbed to cancer while he was writing Washington. The fact that he got it out at all (let alone the amazing book it was) is a tribute to his talent and tenacity.
His next project is supposedly Mark Twain (and now for something completely different!)
I realized after I had already finished “Washington: A Life” that his wife passed a bit after he had embarked on that project (which resulted in my favorite-ever presidential biography). I find that tenacity and determination astonishing, as I can think of little else that would take the wind out of my sails like that.
I’ve been diligently trying to confirm his next project and haven’t found anything dispositive…but you’ve noticed I’m now reading a biography of Mark Twain 🙂 I’m eager to read *whatever* he publishes next but put some stock in the Twain rumor since Twain, Grant and Rockefeller are of the same era which would seem to give Chernow a bit of a head start…
A response to an audience question in 2018:
https://nyunews.com/2018/04/23/04-24-arts-chernow/
Thanks again for your efforts. I take great personal pleasure in seeing what you’re doing and you’re always informative even when we occasionally disagree.
Echoing the prior posters: great review. Titan was a great book and captured Rockefeller and his era magnificently.
I recently stumbled upon a copy Powers’s Twain. It is in the never-ending queue right now. Your review will be timely for me.
The article in Terry H’s comment noted how easy it was for Mr. Chernow to research Twain’s primary materials. Over the past decade, the Mark Twain Project published a massive 3-volume definitive edition of Twain’s autobiography. The Project has been working on publishing Twain’s papers for decades.
More information on the Project:
https://www.marktwainproject.org/homepage.html
Ahhhh, the “never-ending queue” – a common problem (opportunity?!) At the relatively modest pace of reading / reviewing I’m able to sustain I could easily stick to follow-up presidential biographies and never run out of compelling books to read. But now that I’ve made it once through the presidents I’m finding it an absolute joy to diversify a bit and read about other interesting individuals. If only I thought I could stick with this another 100 years or so…
Separately, the one thing that seemed to make Chernow’s portrait of Rockefeller so penetrating: the hundreds of hours of interview transcripts Chernow was able to consume – an absolute gold mine considering how private Rockefeller otherwise proved to be all his life. So I’m intrigued to see how Twain-related scholarship may have evolved from Justin Kaplan’s “era”to Powers’ effort and now, perhaps, to Chernow’s.