Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
John D. Rockefeller
My intimate, confidential relationships with Mr. John D. Rockefeller in New York City began in September, 1891. Read more >>
Although few general histories of the United States contain the name of Frederick T. Gates (1853-1929), he had a larger influence on American life than many a general or political leader who receives detailed notice. Read more >>
A ranking of the forty wealthiest Americans of all time (Surprise: Only three of them are alive today)
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
1839-1937 Read more >>
Seventy-five years ago Americans paid their first income tax. And liked it.
On the evening of March 1, 1914, Americans all around the nation inaugurated what has become a spring ritual for millions of us. Read more >>
Random Reminiscences of Men and Events, the autobiography of John D. Read more >>
In novels, movies, and television melodramas, money and power often are treated as if they were two sides of a single coin. In life, they are different currencies, and the effort to convert one into the other has produced some amazing tangles. Read more >>
Beatrix Farrand’s exactingly beautiful designs changed the American landscape
When Beatrix Farrand arrived to work on a garden, clients knew they were in the presence of someone extraordinary. Read more >>
For years it was seen as the worst of times: bloated, crass, witlessly extravagant. But now scholars are beginning to find some of the era’s unexpected virtues.
J ohn Wenrich’s original drawings of Rockefeller Center helped attract tenants in the middle of the Depression. Fifty years later they survive as talismans of a golden moment in American architecture .
When John D. Rockefeller, Jr., announced his intention to build a great urban complex in December 1929, the project was meant to be “as beautiful as possible,” but it also had to be a solid business proposition. Read more >>
How the happy combination of a millionaire and, a parson gave us Colonial Williamsburg, a place of surpassing loveliness—and a continuing reminder of what a truly bold enterprise our Revolution was
Colonial Williamsburg, as everybody knows, is the monumental historic re-creation of the onetime capital of colonial Virginia, the place where young Thomas Jefferson listened at the door of the House of Burgesses while Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act, t Read more >>
FOR SEVEN DECADES OUR EBULLIENT COUSIN INSTRUCTED US ON EVERYTHING: THE BOERS, PROHIBITION, HITLER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S FEET, AND THE COMMON CAUSE OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
As our image of Winston Churchill slides back into history—his hundredth birthday comes next November 30—the fine lines of his portrait begin to fade, and he is remembered by a new generation mainly as the wartime leader who intoned of blood, toil, tears, and sweat and prodded Read more >>
When Ida Tarbell set out to probe the operations of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, it seemed like David against Goliath all over again