5 ms·
Great write-up, really piqued my interest in Rockefeller. Any good reads you can recommend?
by chriskelley 12y ago
Great write-up, really piqued my interest in Rockefeller. Any good reads you can recommend?
- vinceguidry 12y agohttp://www.amazon.com/Titan-The-Life-John-Rockefeller/dp/1400077303 http://www.amazon.com/Titan-The-Life-John-Rockefeller/dp/140...
- WalterBright 12y agoI read Titan. Interestingly, it documents how SO's market share was declining steadily throughout the anti-trust trial, and Rockefeller was unable to stop it. It runs against the conventional story of SO being an inevitable monopoly.
- vinceguidry 12y agoWell, at the time, the kerosene market was declining and there was nothing bringing it back. Right after the breakup, Henry Ford finally perfected the automobile, and Standard Oil came right back.
- WalterBright 12y agoMarket share isn't the same thing as market size. The point being, SO was losing to competitors.
- valarauca1 12y agoVery true. From 1870 to 1890 SO was 90% of the oil market. By 1907 they were 68%. Their main competition was from Russia oddly enough.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- caycep 12y agoThanks. The Prize by Daniel Yergin isn't bad either.
- saryant 12y agoThe Prize doesn't get into Rockefeller's business decisions as much as Titan though. If that's what you're after, Titan is a better choice.
- dredmorbius 12y agoIt is meticulously researched, though, and the bibliography is as good a place as any to look for further reading on Rockefeller. Above and beyond that, simply as a history of the most important substance in all of human history beyond sheer biological necessities, it's utterly fascinating. It's principally through Yergin's work that I came to pretty much diametrically opposite conclusions of the future of energy from his.
- TrevorJ 12y agoThe documentary series "The Men Who Built America" is a really well done overview of some of these guys.
- AtmaScout 12y agoI wish this was on Netflix streaming. I find this type of history really appealing.
- mrottenkolber 12y agoThe problem with these american HC documentaries is that they are employ certain stylistic means which make them impossible to watch for me.
- dredmorbius 12y agoWhat stylistic means, if you don't mind my asking?
- bwaxxlo 12y agoOvertly bias portrayals to an extent that it becomes celebratory in nature. While I can understand the need to do so, it has become so ingrained that it is impossible find any historically objective documentary that allows viewers to understand the mindset of the period.
- dredmorbius 12y ago
- samstave 12y agoYou can also watch "The men who built america"