 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | In The Big Rich, bestselling author and Vanity Fair special correspondent Bryan Burrough chronicles the rise and fall of one of the great economic and political powerhouses of the twentieth century—Texas oil. By weaving together the epic sagas of the industry’s four greatest fortunes, Burrough has produced an enthralling tale of money, family, and power in the American century.
Known in their day as the Big Four, Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson were all from modest backgrounds, and all became patriarchs of the wealthiest oil families in Texas. As a class they came to be known as the Big Rich, and together they created a new legend in America—the swaggering Texas oilman who owns private islands, sprawling ranches and perhaps a football team or two, and mingles with presidents and Hollywood stars.
The truth more than lives up to the myth. Along with their peers, the Big Four shifted wealth and power in America away from the East Coast, sending three of their state’s native sons to the White House and largely bankrolling the rise of modern conservatism in America. H. L. Hunt became America’s richest man by grabbing Texas’s largest oilfield out from under the nose of the man who found it; he was also a lifelong bigamist. Clint Murchison entertained British royalty on his Mexican hacienda and bet on racehorses—and conducted dirty deals—with J. Edgar Hoover. Roy Cullen, an elementary school dropout, used his millions to revive the hapless Texas GOP. And Sid Richardson, the Big Four’s fun-loving bachelor, was a friend of several presidents, including, most fatefully, Lyndon Johnson.
The Big Four produced offspring who frequently made more headlines, and in some cases more millions, than they did. With few exceptions, however, their fortunes came to an end in a swirl of bitter family feuds, scandals, and bankruptcies, and by the late 1980s, the era of the Big Rich was over. But as Texas native Bryan Burrough reveals in this hugely entertaining account, the profound economic, political, and cultural influence of Texas oil is still keenly felt today. |
Average Customer Rating:   Great subject poorly served The Texas oilmen were certainly a fascinating bunch, but in chronicling their ups and downs Bryan Burrough seems to have been sleep-writing half the time, and his editors sleep-working. The standard of editing and proofreading in this book is scandalously low... page after page contains bad grammar and typographical errors. The tale starts well, and Burroughs shows that he can do pacing, when he's awake. But it drifts into a weird morass of anti-Republican waffle that attempts to cast all the Texans as right-wing nut jobs even when they supported the Democratic party--LBJ, for example, is right-wing whenever Burrough wants him to be--or when the only nut job available was the best friend of the nephew of an oilman. Disappointing and, for the hardcover edition, a waste of money. Incredible characters, great story I loved Burrough's previous book, "Public Enemies", and this one, while not filled with lurid crimes and shootouts, was just as enthralling. Burrough distills a century of Texas history into a very readable tale that never lets up. My favorite was the story of Glenn McCarthy -- the real life inspiration for James Dean's character in "Giant". They say truth is stranger than fiction, well that's true here -- if this were written as a novel, nobody would believe it. A very fun book. texas oil I loved reading about the Texas oil story, esp. since living in Texas for 30 years, and learning about this fascinating part of Texas history. "A billion dollars just isn't what it used to be" A 'must read' for Houstonians Really well written book about fortunes made and lost in the oil patch. Highly recommended. True Story of Texas Oil and the Men it Made Rich This Big Rich is a whirlwind of Texas oil history trivia. It begins about 1920 and centers on four men: H. L. Hunt, Hugh Cullen, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson who were the big four of Texas oil. They rose from poor beginnings to take turns at being America's richest man. The book also highlights the second and third generation and relatives of these men.
The movie "Giant" was based on the Houston "King of Wildcatters" Glenn McCarthy. When he married his 16 year old bride, he worked as a gas station attendant and had $1.50 to his name, but between 1931 and 1942 he struck oil 38 times making him one of the richest men in America. On one well, he had 20 days before the lease ran out and they had to be drilling by then or lose the lease. On the last day at 11:45 PM, they had the rig in place but the motor would not start. McCarthy said, "All right boys, we are going to gonna start drilling this son-of-a-bitch by hand." They used pair of chain tongs to inch the drill bit into the mud and keep the lease. He was the stereotype of the hard-driving, fist-fighting Texas oil millionaire, but in the end lost all his money.
H.L. Hunt built the world's largest fortune and secretly supported three families at the same time (he was a bigamist). H. L.Hunt's most famous heirs were the sons of his first family, Bunker and Herbert Hunt, who lost $4 billion in their attempt to corner the U.S. silver market in the 1970s (and were later convicted of market manipulation), and Lamar Hunt, who founded the American Football League and the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1987, Lamar and two of his brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Clint Murchison, Jr found the Dallas Cowboys in 1960 but sold it; it is now considered by Forbes Magazine to be the most valuable sports franchise in the United States, worth $1.6 billion. In the end, Clint Murchison Jr. declared bankruptcy in the 1980s.
The lifelong bachelor Sid Richardson left $50 million to the sons of his nephew, Perry R. Bass. The Bass brothers of Fort Worth -- Sid, Robert, Lee and Edward -- held onto and increased the money and are now collectively worth more than $5 billion.
How many of you have heard of "Big Inch", an oil pipeline constructed during World War II from the Texas oil fields to New York and Philadelphia to allow Texas oil to avoid the Nazi submarines off Florida? Or the fact that America won the war on the back of Texas oil. During the war, all U.S. allies produced an estimated 276 million barrels; while Texas produced more than 500 million. Without this oil, England could not have fought the air Battle of Brittan. The Big Rich is packed full on interesting information from the first unlikely discovery of oil at Spindletop and later the East Texas oil field (the largest in the World at that time), to the wining and dinning J. Edgar Hover, the bankrolling Lyndon Johnson and backing of the anti-Communist witch hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy. The book is just one interesting story after another. I highly recommend it.
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