The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes
It doesn’t matter where you are from, native Texan, or otherwise, your age or political affiliations you will be mesmerized by this depiction of lifelong partnerships and untold riches. Author Bryan Burrough does an excellent job telling the story of four Texas families who amassed great wealth while humanizing their imperfections and oftentimes crazy antics during an unprecedented time in American regional history in his best-selling novel The Big Rich. It is hard to believe that such fortunes could be gained by a hand full of people that came from humble beginnings to become some of the richest Americans of all time. They brought Texas oil gushing to the surface making history in the process. They used their money and power to shape the political landscape of Texas. Their influence reached American presidents and shaped national politics reaching far into the future.
New York Times bestselling author Bryan Burrough
The Big Rich, This book was published in 2009.
Highly, highly recommended.
If you want to understand the Texas of today, Burroughs’s portrayal of oil history including the life and times of the oil speculators during the early discover days and subsequent oil boom in Texas, then this book is a must-read. Along the way, you will ride the roller-coaster ups and downs of these wildcatters and oil barons in a world where truth is often stranger than fiction. The book includes the second and third generations and relatives of these men. Burroughs captures a bygone era with style, taking you on an adventure larger than the great state of Texas. The biographical, political, economic and business history depicted by Burroughs makes this a hard book to put down.
The Big Rich Will Not Disappoint
Texas-size depiction of scandal, eccentricity, power, family feuds, making fortunes and losing fortunes. A must-read!
Amazon Review: The Big Rich
Phenomenal reviews and sales greeted the hardcover publication of The Big Rich, New York Times bestselling author Bryan Burroughs’s spellbinding chronicle of Texas oil. Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry’s four wealthiest families, Burroughs brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood stars. Seamlessly charting their collective rise and fall, The Big Rich is a hugely entertaining account that only a writer with Burrough’s abilities-and Texas upbringing-could have written.
