Welcome. This is your WBZ book Club. I'm Jordan Rich. Ron Cherno
has written several biographies of note. One of them is called Titan, The
Life of John D. Rockefeller Senior. He was certainly a business tycoon,
but he was also a philanthropist, and Cherno offers quite a bit of insight
into Rockefeller, who was America's first billionaire and who created a financial empire that's
still very much in place today. Rockefeller, as you may know, created
Standard Oil, which became an incredibly powerful monopoly. Many of John Rockefeller's capitalistic
practices were less than honorable, and the Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil must
be dismantled for violation of federal antitrust laws in nineteen eleven. But there's also
the positives, the incredible amount of philanthropy, particularly during his retirement years,
giving millions to benefit medicine, healthcare, higher education, and the modernization of
the American South. It's a complex, multi layered look at a financial giant
who built a fortune with questionable deals, but a man who lived long enough
to give so much back. Titan, The Life of John D. Rockefeller
Senior, by Ron Cherno The Book Club WBZ Boston News Radio,