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Breaking Rockefeller : the incredible story of the ambitious rivals who toppled an oil empire / Peter B. Doran.

Lippincott Library HD9560.5 .D67 2016
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Doran, Peter B., author.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Samuel, Marcus, 1853-1927.
Deterding, Henri, 1866-1939.
Rockefeller, John D., 1839-1937 (Rockefeller, John Davison).
Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij--History.
Standard Oil Company--History.
Petroleum industry and trade--History.
Petroleum industry and trade.
History.
Local Subjects:
Samuel, Marcus, 1853-1927.
Deterding, Henri, 1866-1939.
Rockefeller, John D., 1839-1937 (Rockefeller, John Davison).
Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij--History.
Standard Oil Company--History.
Physical Description:
xii, 337 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Place of Publication:
New York, New York : Viking, 2016.
Summary:
The author of the popular History of Oil podcast traces the early-20th-century rivalry between John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell, describing the origins of partners Marcus Samuel, Jr. and Henri Deterding and how they used respective talents to break Rockefeller's daunting monopoly"
At the height of the great oil boom of the 1870s-1880s, John D. Rockefeller was seemingly unstoppable. Capitalizing on the newly emerging industry that was changing the lives of people worldwide, Rockefeller eliminated his rivals to achieve near-total domination of the market. By 1889, he was at the peak of his power, having created one of the largest monopolies in history, so powerful that even the U.S. government was wary of challenging the great "anaconda" of Standard Oil. The Standard never loses--that is, until the unlikely duo of Marcus Samuel and Henri Deterding teamed up to form Royal Dutch Shell, and set the stage for the toppling of Standard Oil. This account of ambition, oil, and greed traces Samuel's rise from canny outsider to the heights of the British aristocracy, Deterding's conquest of America, and the collapse of Rockefeller's oil empire. Taking readers through the rough and tumble of East London's streets and the twilight turmoil of tsarist Russia to the halls of the British Parliament and right down New York's Broadway, international affairs expert Peter Doran offers a fresh perspective on how Samuel and Deterding beat the world's richest man at his own game.--Adapted from dust jacket
Contents:
The King of Broadway
The merchant of Houndsditch
The insider
Rascality of all descriptions
It can't be done
The carnivorous snail
The royal crown
The hidden map
The knight in the mote
The deal of the century
The rivals
The echo of applause
Reversals of fortune
The black city in red
The warhorse and the stallion
The "fateful plunge"
The Colossus falls
"We must take America"
Wealth beyond measure
Legacies
The enduring puzzle
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-322) and index.
ISBN:
9780525427391
0525427392
OCLC:
952304043

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