When Standard’s name became anathema, he created new companies like Republic Oil, which advertised itself as independent. When competitors resisted him, he cut prices to, in his words, “give them a good sweating” until they buckled and he could devour them cheaply. When his partner counseled caution, he bought him out. By combining his almost totalitarian ruthlessness with calculated gambles, and by making lying a company policy (all while quietly worshiping his God as a regular church-goer), he succeeded. Rockefeller sought to bring order to this cycle. Typically, soon after the first successful well was drilled in Titusville, Pa., one parcel of nearby land sold for $2 million a few years later, the identical land was auctioned for $4.37. His genius lay in figuring out how to rein in the boom-and-bust price cycle of oil, a cycle that has played havoc with the industry from its earliest days. A measure of his accomplishment is that Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Amaco, Arco, Conaco and Sohio all were once mere parts of the great octopus of a company he built, Standard Oil.

Rockefeller, easily the single dominant character and single greatest architect in the history of oil. The first and strongest of these strong men was John D. (About the only female character is Ida Tarbell, author of the masterpiece “The History of the Standard Oil Co.” that helped force the break-up of the company in 1911.) Still, the story itself is fascinating, peopled with ambitious, strong men willing to gamble and lacking only a Mata Hari-and it is hard to believe there hasn’t been one somewhere-to distinguish it from one by Sidney Sheldon. The former succeeds marvelously, but the latter, more important study falters. Second, it is a study of oil and international politics interspersed with social commentary. First, it is the story of the men who built history’s greatest private institutions, the giant multinational oil companies whose wealth and power exceed that of many nations. Daniel Yergin’s massive volume “The Prize” is two books really.

Dan yergin the prize