Ebook: The Rockefellers -An American dynasty

This is the story of an American dynasty. It is the story of the father, who built the fortune. Of the son, who cleansed the name. Of the Brothers, who manipulated both the name and the fortune to their own ends. And of the Cousins, who often wish they had inherited neither.

Through four generations, the name has been synonymous with great wealth: through three, with great works. Now, in the fourth generation, the dynasty has begun to crumble. But the story of that dynasty is a saga of immense dimensions, a saga inextricably interwoven with a hundred years of American history. For the rise of the dynasty to its preeminent place parallels this country's rise to world power, and the growth of the family's fortune interlocks with a century of unprecedented national wealth.

Against a richly detailed backdrop of history, the story of this unique American family unfolds. It begins with Senior, who amassed a fortune amid the muck and disorder of the Pennsylvania oil fields and left his son, Mr. Junior, to deal with the public outcry. It follows Junior as he built the charities and foundations that made the name a public institution. And it tracks the lives of Junior’s sons, the five Rockefeller Brothers. Here then is Laurance, clever and charming as a youth, burnt out and cynical by middle age; Winthrop, shy, awkward, the black sheep who finally made a mark for himself in the eyes of everyone but his family; JDR3, introverted and anxious even after years of proving himself; David, a man on the move who took the nation's front-ranking bank and made it number three; and Nelson, ambitious, aggressive, the brother who broke the unwritten family code. The story ends with the Cousins— the fourth generation of Rockefeller wealth, many of whom have repudiated that wealth, others of whom have abandoned the name. As this generation gropes for its own identity beyond the name and fortune, the dynastic power recedes. An era is indeed ending.

Peter Collier, author of When Shall They Rest?, and David Horowitz, author of Free World Colossus, were granted unprecedented access to the Rockefeller Family Archives and to private family materials through the intercession of several members of the Cousins' generation. This is the first time individuals neither supported nor authorized by the family have enjoyed access to such rich primary sources.