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The Life Of Nelsonby Captain A.t.mahan Download Book (Respecting the intellectual property of others is utmost important to us, we make every effort to make sure we only link to legitimate sites, such as those sites owned by authors and publishers. If you have any questions about these links, please contact us.) link 1 About Book Amazon.com Proving that the rich are indeed different from you and me, Cary Reich informs us that former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller's father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., made his children swat flies to earn their allowances, and take long single-file marches with him each Sunday. This account of Rockefeller's seemingly charmed life takes us from his boyhood on the family's estate at Tarrytown, New York to his landslide victory over Averell Harriman in the 1958 governor's race in New York. At that point Rockefeller seemed poised for the presidency--a goal that eluded him for the rest of his life. From Publishers Weekly "Looking at Nelson," Reich quotes a colleague as saying, "was like looking up close at an elephant. A lot of us saw a piece of the elephant, and some saw more of the elephant than others. But none of us saw the entire elephant." This elephantine first part of a two-volume life will have readers eager for the other half. No hagiographer, Reich (Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer) sees "rampant ambition" propelling John D. Jr.'s second son, who refused to be merely one of his father's viceroys in the Rockefeller empire. To leverage his patrimony into external power and influence, he employed a personal engine "perpetually in overdrive," his confidence and his energy nourished by near royal status, extramarital sexual success, pep pills and tranquilizers, and unlimited money. Rockefeller's wealth would buy the industrious and talented staff that could develop ambitious schemes and sustain his frenetic pace in marketing them. In his 20s he was already master of the "awesome limestone forest" that was Rockefeller Center, and the Museum of Modern Art was his personal fiefdom. In his 30s and 40s, in and out of public service, he engineered Roosevelt's wartime Good Neighbor policy in Latin America, ran the Point Four postwar economic program for developing nations, devised U.N. Article 51, which would make collective assistance to invaded South Korea legal, helped create a huge Cabinet department for human services. Yet Rockefeller was increasingly frustrated by his ineffectuality in appointive positions among those he considered political pygmies. At 50, at the close of Reich's absorbing biography, Rockefeller runs for political office for the first time, as the Republican gubernatorial candidate for New York, an office he would hold from 1959 to 1973, in a populist makeover that has him dreaming even of the presidency. Artfully constructed, veined with grand themes, based on prodigious research including more than 350 interviews, this is a definitive portrait. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Public interest in politicians and government figures often fades quickly after their death, and Nelson Rockefeller (he died in 1979) has not proved an exception. Despite his many terms as governor of New York, his tenure as vice president, and his many years in important governmental and philanthropic posts, he is today remembered, if at all, as the personification of liberal Republicanism. Financial journalist and veteran biographer Reich offers here a dense and definitive biography that describes Rockefeller's life until his first election as governor of New York in 1958; a second volume planned for next year will finish the story. The book's intimidating length and the rather pedestrian nature of many of Rockefeller's public tasks during this period of his life belie the many fascinations of this book. Reich captures Rockefeller's expansive personality through the liberal use of anecdote, reminiscence, and correspondence. General readers will be attracted by the accounts of Rockefeller's voracious sexuality and his minglings with the intellectual and political elite of the day. Highly recommended. -?Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. The New York Times Book Review, Geoffrey C. Ward A vivid, compelling, oversize account of Nelson Rockefeller's first 50 years. From Booklist Not content to sit on his inheritance, Nelson Rockefeller was forever on the political make and brashly unapologetic about his ambition. Reich's hefty work briskly covers Rockefeller's career and peccadilloes through his election as New York's governor. From the abundant archival material, Reich skillfully arranges an energetic, self-propelling narrative. Rockefeller's propensity to be the bouncy center of attention was exhibited during his school years and into his social and business circles in the 1930s, when he presided over the Museum of Modern Art and Rockefeller Center. But collecting rent checks and patronizing the arts were too prosaic for him. Reich archly tells how Rockefeller networked his way into the Roosevelt administration, and later, how he adroitly cultivated Republicans as a means of launching his own political career. Reich ends this volume with the multimillionaire's election as Governor of New York in 1958. An astute, sardonic, and darn good biographer, Reich has set up strong expectations for volume 2, to be published next year, which will cover Rockefeller's governorship and his frustrated presidential aspirations during the 1960s and 1970s. Gilbert Taylor Book Description A triumph of the biographer's art, The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller is the first full-length biography of one of the most powerful, magnetic, fascinating figures on the twentieth-century stage. Of all the great American dynastic families, few could match the combined wealth, power, and influence of the Rockefellers. And of all the Rockefellers, none was more determined to use these advantages than Nelson A. Rockefeller. Nelson was never content to live off the fame and fortune due him as a Rockefeller. His imperious grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, and intimidating father, John Jr., set standards and boundaries that Nelson blithely ignored. He pushed for position within the family, and then broke a family taboo by taking his ambition to the forbidden world of politics. A devoted family man, he took many lovers with an almost casual sense of droit du seigneur. He surrounded himself with brilliant, devoted subordinates; he flattered and cajoled more powerful people who would also end up serving his needs. Handsome, ferociously energetic, charming, and ruthless, Rockefeller had a rapacious appetite for life--and for power--that showed itself in the stunning breadth of his activities and in the daring of his ideas. Nelson's sunny, optimistic demeanor masked a Machiavellian mind. At a young age he wrested control of the Rockefeller Center project from his father's minions, turned the Museum of Modern Art into a world-class institution, used a midlevel bureaucratic position during World War II to run the affairs of an entire continent; through pure ego and drive he bent the United Nations conference to his will and redirected the path of history. Nelson A. Rockefeller's fierce drive to achieve would have a profound effect on a city, a state, a nation, and the world. Cary Reich's masterful biography, eight years in the making, brings this awesome figure to life. Reich enjoyed unprecedented access to the Rockefeller family archives, scrutinized FBI and FOIA files, and interviewed over three hundred individuals for the book, including many who had never spoken about Rockefeller for the record. This two-volume work (the second to appear in 1997) will surely stand alongside the works of Robert Caro, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and David McCullough. Cary Reich is the author of Financier: The Biography of AndrÚ Meyer. He is the former executive editor of Institutional Investor and has written numerous portraits of the powerful and the wealthy. He is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including the Overseas Press Award, the Deadline Club Award, and the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism. He lives in New York City. From the Publisher Praise for Cary Reich's Financier: The Biography Of Andr Meyer: National Book Award Finalist "A fascinating mixture of financial history involving household names of the corporate scene, gossip at rarified altitudes and big bucks. The focus is on people, mutual back-scratching, wheeling and dealing through the conglomerate jungle of the 1950s, '60s and '70s." "I laughed until I cried while reading passages of Cary Reich's chatty, conscientious portrait of Meyer's raids and rages...must reading for anyone interested in contemporary finance." "This book is fun to read. Mr. Reich, while prudently avoiding heavy legal and accounting exegesis, has a talent for the clear explanation of essential technical detail." "Hard-edged and uncompromising...a lucid and well-researched account." Of all the great American dynastic families, few could match the combined wealth, power, and influence of the Rockefellers. And of all the Rockefellers, none was more determined to use these advantages than Nelson A. Rockefeller. Nelson was never content to live off the fame and fortune due him as a Rockefeller. His imperious grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, and intimidating father, John Jr., set standards and boundaries that Nelson blithely ignored. He pushed for position within the family, and then broke a family taboo by taking his ambition to the forbidden world of politics. A devoted family man, he took many lovers with an almost casual sense of droit du seigneur. He surrounded himself with brilliant, devoted subordinates; he flattered and cajoled more powerful people who would also end up serving his needs. Handsome, ferociously energetic, charming, and ruthless, Rockefeller had a rapacious appetite for life--and for power--that showed itself in the stunning breadth of his activities and in the daring of his ideas. Nelson's sunny, optimistic demeanor masked a Machiavellian mind. At a young age he wrested control of the Rockefeller Center project from his father's minions, turned the Museum of Modern Art into a world-class institution, used a midlevel bureaucratic position during World War II to run the affairs of an entire continent; through pure ego and drive he bent the United Nations conference to his will and redirected the path of history. Nelson A. Rockefeller's fierce drive to achieve would have a profound effect on a city, a state, a nation, and the world. Cary Reich's masterful biography, eight years in the making, brings this awesome figure to life. Reich enjoyed unprecedented access to the Rockefeller family archives, scrutinized FBI and FOIA files, and interviewed over three hundred individuals for the book, including many who had never spoken about Rockefeller for the record. This two-volume work (the second to appear in 1997) will surely stand alongside the works of Robert Caro, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and David McCullough. Cary Reich is the author of Financier: The Biography of AndrÚ Meyer. He is the former executive editor of Institutional Investor and has written numerous portraits of the powerful and the wealthy. He is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including the Overseas Press Award, the Deadline Club Award, and the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism. He lives in New York City.
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