William James said of John D. Rockefeller that he had never met "so complex, subtle, oily, fierce, strongly bad and strongly good a human being". Rockefeller was the richest man of his age; he founded and built Standard Oil into the country's most powerful monopoly, reshaping American capitalism in the process. A man of fascinating contradictions, a devout Baptist who was the son of a bigamist and snake-oil peddler, he was secretive and self-contained, shrewd and tight-fisted, vet also a legendary philanthropist.

In the enigmatic Rockefeller he has found his greatest subject. Tapping previously unmined sources, Chernow has crafted a mesmerizing biography full of startling revelations that will stand forth as the most vivid, comprehensive portrait ever written of the mysterious billionaire.