Ron Chernow
From AwardAnnals
Information about the author.
Works
- 3 works
- Show titles only
Ron Chernow
Ron Chernow, whom the New York Times called “as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we’ve seen in decades,” now brings to startling life the man who was arguably the most important figure in American history, who never attained the presidency, but who had a far more lasting impact than many who did.
An illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, Hamilton rose with stunning speed to become George Washington’s aide-de-camp, a member of the Constitutional Convention, coauthor of The Federalist Papers, leader of the Federalist party, and the country’s first Treasury secretary. With masterful storytelling skills, Chernow presents the whole sweep of Hamilton’s turbulent life: his exotic, brutal upbringing; his brilliant military, legal, and financial exploits; his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Monroe; his illicit romances; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804.
For the first time, Chernow captures the personal life of this handsome, witty, and perennially controversial genius and explores his poignant…
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
Ron Chernow
The House of Morgan is the most ambitious history ever written about an American banking dynasty. Hailed as an investigative masterpiece, it traces the trajectory of the J. P. Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987 and beyond. A rich, panoramic story of four generations of Morgans and the powerful, secretive firms they spawned, it is the definitive account of the rise of the modern financial world.
From the period glamor of the late nineteenth century to secret alliances during both world wars, The House of Morgan is studded with startling revelations about the men and women—Henry Ford, Franklin Roosevelt, Nancy Astor, Winston Churchill, Adnan Khashoggi, Paul Volcker, and many others—who have transformed the financial and political world in the past 150 years.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Ron Chernow
The landmark biography of a true American original—and the first written since the opening of Rockefeller’s papers—masterfully rendered by the National Book Award-winning author of The House of Morgan. John D. Rockefeller, Sr.,—history’s first billionaire and the patriarch of America’s most famous dynasty—is an icon whose true nature has eluded three generations of historians. Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straightlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded ‘the Octopus’ by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
Critics charged that his empire was built on unscrupulous tactics: grand-scale collusion with the railroads, predatory pricing, industrial espionage, and wholesale bribery of political officials. The titan…
