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Breaking Rockefeller
- The Incredible Story of the Ambitious Rivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire
- Narrated by: Peter B. Doran
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
The incredible tale of how ambitious oil rivals Marcus Samuel, Jr., and Henri Deterding joined forces to topple the Standard Oil empire.
Marcus Samuel, Jr., is an unorthodox Jewish merchant trader. Henri Deterding is a take-no-prisoners oilman. In 1889 John D. Rockefeller is at the peak of his power. Having annihilated all competition and possessing near-total domination of the market, even the US government is wary of challenging the great "anaconda" of Standard Oil. The Standard never loses - that is, until Samuel and Deterding team up to form Royal Dutch Shell.
A riveting account of ambition, oil, and greed, Breaking Rockefeller traces Samuel's rise from outsider to the heights of the British aristocracy, Deterding's conquest of America, and the collapse of Rockefeller's monopoly. The beginning of the 20th century is a time when vast fortunes were made and lost. Taking listeners through the rough and tumble of East London's streets, to the twilight turmoil of czarist Russia, to the halls of the British Parliament, and right down Broadway in New York City, Peter Doran offers a richly detailed, fresh perspective on how Samuel and Deterding beat the world's richest man at his own game.
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Critic reviews
“Breaking Rockefeller emulates the best oil literature, in which geology and geopolitics go hand in hand.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“[Marcus Samuel and Henri Deterding’s] story, though not new, is grippingly retold in Breaking Rockefeller.... The guts, greed and gusto of this cast of characters are what give the book its vigor.... The book is timely in an era when America’s shale revolution has upset the OPEC cartel’s efforts to control the world’s oil markets, and Eastern Europe struggles to free its gas markets from dependence on Russia’s Gazprom. It is a vivid reminder of the dangers of monopolies, and of the merits of no-holds barred competition and technological upheaval.” (The Economist)
“It is the author’s love affair (it can be called nothing less) with oil itself that most effectively entices the reader to make her way through these pages.... When Doran talks about [oil], it is with a sensuality of language comparable to that of the most decadent of gourmets.... Peter Doran’s writing style is lively, accessible and sometimes slightly breathless. Each one of his chapters ends with a dramatic, almost apocalyptic-sounding statement that leads neatly to the next one. It works. Even the most ardent of fossil fuel haters will find Breaking Rockefeller hard to resist.” (The Post and Courier)
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Story
In the 30 years after the Civil War, the United States blew by Great Britain to become the greatest economic power in world history. That is a well-known period in history, when titans like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan walked the earth. But as Charles R. Morris shows us, the platform for that spectacular growth spurt was built in the first half of the century. By the 1820s, America was already the world's most productive manufacturer and the most intensely commercialized society in history.
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How our industries started
- By Jean on 02-22-13
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From Silk to Silicon
- The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives
- By: Jeffrey E. Garten
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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From Silk to Silicon tells the story of who these men and women were, what they did, how they did it, and how their achievements continue to shape our world today.
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Fantastic Journey
- By Michael on 06-06-16
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When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
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Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Fordlandia
- The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
- By: Greg Grandin
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Fordlandia by National Book Award finalist Greg Grandin tells the enthralling tale of Henry Ford’s failed attempts to transform a Connecticut-sized chunk of Brazilian rainforest into a homespun slice of American utopia.
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An eye-opening account of an arrogant man's folly
- By Melissa on 09-17-13
By: Greg Grandin
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Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
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Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
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Barons of the Sea
- By: Steven Ujifusa
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When the United States was young, importing luxury goods from China was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business - one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one’s goods arrived first to market. Barons of the Sea tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores.
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Lost at sea
- By Steve on 07-24-18
By: Steven Ujifusa
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Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
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Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
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Last Train to Paradise
- Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean
- By: Les Standiford
- Narrated by: Del Roy
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The paths of the great American robber barons were paved with riches, and though ordinary citizens paid for them, they also profited. Les Standiford, author of the John Deal thrillers, tells how the man who turned Florida's swamps into the playgrounds of the rich performed the almost superhuman feat of building a railroad from the mainland to Key West at the turn of the century.
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A Pleasant Surprise
- By Roy on 04-05-09
By: Les Standiford
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Leviathan
- The History of Whaling in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. This absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs.
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NOT JUST BLUBBER
- By Jesse on 08-06-07
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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The Boom
- How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World
- By: Russell Gold
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Russell Gold, a brilliant and dogged investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has spent more than a decade reporting on one of the biggest stories of our time: the spectacular, world-changing rise of "fracking". Recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award for his work, Gold has traveled along the pipelines and into the hubs of this country’s energy infrastructure; he has visited frack sites from Texas to North Dakota; and he has conducted thousands of interviews with engineers and wildcatters, CEOs and roughnecks, environmentalists and politicians.
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Somehow the author manages to stay balanced
- By Emily C on 05-28-14
By: Russell Gold
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American Entrepreneur
- How 400 Years of Risk-Takers, Innovators, and Business Visionaries Built the U.S.A.
- By: Willie Robertson, William Doyle
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of the United States is, to a remarkable degree, the story of its entrepreneurs, those daring movers and shakers who dreamed big and risked everything to build better lives for themselves, and their fellow Americans. In American Entrepreneur, Duck Commander CEO and star of the blockbuster Duck Dynasty series Willie tells the captivating true tale of the visionaries and doers who have embodied the American Dream.
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Should have been narrated by Willie
- By Tyler smoke on 12-05-18
By: Willie Robertson, and others
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Gold
- The Race for the World's Most Seductive Metal
- By: Matthew Hart
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Since the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold has skyrocketed - in three years, it has more than doubled from $800 an ounce to $1,900. This massive spike kicked off an unprecedented global gold-mining and exploration boom, much bigger than the Gold Rush of the 1800s. In Gold, acclaimed author Matthew Hart takes you on an unforgettable journey around the world and through history to tell the incredible story of how gold became the world's most precious commodity.
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in the eyes of the beholder
- By Andy on 12-10-13
By: Matthew Hart
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Chocolate Wars
- The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers
- By: Deborah Cadbury
- Narrated by: Deborah Cadbury
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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With a cast of characters that wouldnt be out of place in a Victorian novel, Chocolate Wars tells the story of the great chocolatier dynasties, through the prism of the Cadburys. Chocolate was consumed unrefined and unprocessed as a rather bitter, fatty drink for the wealthy elite until the late 19th century, when the Swiss discovered a way to blend it with milk and unleashed a product that would conquer every market in the world.
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The World of Chocolate
- By Jean on 11-05-14
By: Deborah Cadbury
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The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 31 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
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No Stone Unturned
- By Tim on 06-25-13
By: David McCullough
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Freedom's Forge
- How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Arthur Herman pens this fascinating look at how two businessmen turned the U.S. into a military powerhouse during World War II. In 1940, FDR asked General Motors CEO William Knudsen to oversee the production of guns, tanks, and planes needed for the war. Meanwhile, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser presided over the building of “Liberty ships” - vessels that came to symbolize America’s great wartime output.
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Enlightening. Amazing, Great Narration
- By G. Sanders on 08-26-12
By: Arthur Herman
What listeners say about Breaking Rockefeller
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dylan R.
- 08-22-16
great
this is an extent book that does a good job of painting the early 20th century the last chapter falls off into a short anti "Jones act" (nothing wrong with that but I just wasn't expecting it) story, but EVERTHING else was awesome
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- Duchess of Clinton
- 07-21-17
informative and entertaining
I very much enjoyed this book. the author does a great job of making a bygone era come to life. I knew about Rockefeller from his philanthropy but I did not know the story of his business this was very eye-opening. it was wonderful to hear how his competitors finally got the upper hand and to learn the history of the shell Corporation. I especially like that the author narrated his own book and was able to put emphasis where it was most needed. if you have any interest in learning more about the past economy or our current economy this is a great read, I highly recommend it!
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- Philo
- 05-25-16
Tale of business, cultures, dances as it teaches
Effervescent. Sprightly. Colorful. Listenable. Relentlessly. I kid you not. You will not find a greater delight in business history than here. The author zooms from personality to personality, place to place with a grace rarely seen. Each sentence is crafted with clever bits, and the author reads the book to perfection -- dividing the sentences into segments that impart meaning as clear as a bell. Each level and layer of meaning overlays seamlessly -- from the dynamics of competition and entrepreneurship to the delights, quirks and neuroses a Yank or Swede or Siamese or Indian or Brit at any level might experience as the 1800s progressed. Personalities are finely and wittily etched, along wilth their links and their parts in their times. We readily grasp why each player acts as (s)he does. We see the games great and small. Instantly we are whisked into another scene, a boardroom, a dinner, a ship's deck, a sailor's holiday, a tourist's seaside jaunt, and instantly we can feel as if we know and inhabit the participants' minds. And it all fits a magnificent puzzle with business pulsing at its heart. This is obviously a labor of love on the author's part at every level. It shows that quality great and small. One might read a dozen academic texts and never grasp the totality of what is here. It's like Niall Ferguson but with a much more demanding editor cutting out the chaff. If this has any shred of interest for you, you won't regret it.
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9 people found this helpful
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- LAK
- 06-08-16
Great History of Oil Business
I loved all the details about all the big players in the oil industry. I had no idea how much impact the oil industry had on the world, inventions and lives in general. Great book, full of fascinating information about pivotal people in the world!
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4 people found this helpful
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- John
- 09-08-19
Great story teller
Peter bring to life the characters and personalities that changed the world with their passions and greed.
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- Briian Newhouse -velie
- 12-31-23
The relevancy
Terrific read! I highly recommend this book esp if you want your learn about the oil giants . Rockefeller was genius in how he created his monopoly. And genius is always so simple and straight forward. The cherry on top was the information about how we are still impacted by his genius and how the author bring everything current - yikes ! Wow! And yay! On most of the the information shared in the work. The jones act is still in force and really a
Fact we should all be aware of how it hurts American competition.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-25-21
Interesting book, very misleading title.
This book was poorly titled. The content feels more like 70% about the history of Royal Dutch Shell and 30% standard oil. In reality this book is just an interesting history/account of the oil industry from a few specific perspectives. Very little to do with Rockefeller, virtually no discussion on the Sherman act.
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- JBL
- 07-04-17
Horrible narration
Story was very good. But the narration was not. He has too many infections. And it bothered me a lot.
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1 person found this helpful