And shall we at last become the victims of our own abominable lust of gain? Forbid it, Heaven." Washington himself could be a hard driving businessman, yet he found the rapacity of many vendors unconscionable. As he told George Mason, he thought it the intent of the speculators, various tribes of money makers and stock jobbers of all denominations, to continue the war for their own private emolument, without considering that their avarice and thirst for gain must plunge everything in one common ruin.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller was a prominent figure in American business known as an industrialist philanthropist and the founder of the Standard Oil Company. In addition to his background writing nonfiction works and biographies Chernow continues to contribute articles to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

He is also the recipient of the National Book Award for Nonfiction for his 1990 book The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance. Eccles Prize for Excellence in Economic Writing. Rockefeller were both nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards while The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family was honored with the 1993 George S.