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Sons of Wichita
- How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
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Publisher's summary
Like the Rockefellers and the Kennedys, the Kochs are one of the most influential dynasties of the modern age, but they have never been the subject of a major biography... until now.
Not long after the death of his father, Charles Koch, then in his early 30s, discovered a letter the family patriarch had written to his sons. "You will receive what now seems to be a large sum of money," Fred Koch cautioned. "It may either be a blessing or a curse."
Fred's legacy would become a blessing and a curse to his four sons - Frederick, Charles, and fraternal twins David and Bill - who in the ensuing decades fought bitterly over their birthright, the oil and cattle-ranching empire their father left behind in 1967. Against a backdrop of scorched-earth legal skirmishes, Charles and David built Koch Industries into one of the largest private corporations in the world - bigger than Boeing and Disney - and they rose to become two of the wealthiest men on the planet.
Influenced by the sentiments of their father, who was present at the birth of the John Birch Society, Charles and David have spent decades trying to remake the American political landscape and mainline their libertarian views into the national bloodstream. They now control a machine that is a center of gravity within the Republican Party. To their supporters, they are liberating America from the scourge of Big Government. To their detractors, they are political "contract killers", as David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's chief strategist, put it during the 2012 campaign.
Bill, meanwhile, built a multi-billion dollar energy empire all his own, and earned notoriety as an America's Cup-winning yachtsman, a flamboyant playboy, and as a litigious collector of fine wine and Western memorabilia. Frederick lived an intensely private life as an arts patron, refurbishing a series of historic homes and estates.
Sons of Wichita traces the complicated lives and legacies of these four tycoons, as well as their business, social, and political ambitions. No matter where you fall on the ideological spectrum, the Kochs are one of the most influential dynasties of our era, but so little is publicly known about this family, their origins, how they make their money, and how they live their lives. Based on hundreds of interviews with friends, relatives, business associates, and many others, Sons of Wichita is the first major biography about this wealthy and powerful family - warts and all.
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The House of Mondavi
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- By: Julia Flynn Siler
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in California's lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corporation's 21st-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, award-winning journalist Julia Flynn Siler brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama.
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LESS EXCITING THAN WATCHING GRAPES GROW
- By The Louligan on 11-27-09
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Giuliani
- The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor
- By: Andrew Kirtzman
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Giuliani was hailed after 9/11 as “America’s Mayor,” a singular figure who at the time was more widely admired than the pope. He was brilliant, accomplished—and complicated. He conflated politics with morality and caused his own downfall with a series of disastrous decisions and cynical compromises. He made reckless personal choices and engaged in self-destructive behavior. His need for power, money, and attention gradually ruined his reputation, cost him friendships, and ultimately damaged the country.
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You Clearly See His Story
- By Anonymous User on 10-06-23
By: Andrew Kirtzman
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Bitter Brew
- The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer
- By: William Knoedelseder
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The engrossing, often scandalous saga of one of the wealthiest, longest-lasting, and most colorful family dynasties in the history of American commerce—a cautionary tale about prosperity, profligacy, hubris, and the blessings and dark consequences of success. This engrossing, vivid narrative captures the Busch saga through five generations. At the same time, it weaves a broader story of American progress and decline over the past 150 years. It's a cautionary tale of prosperity, hubris, and loss.
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Couldn't stop listening...
- By Jeremy McGough on 11-09-12
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Family of Secrets
- The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America
- By: Russ Baker
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre said that "words are loaded pistols". In the hands of Russ Baker, they are hydrogen bombs. On each and every page of his masterpiece, Family of Secrets, he explodes the myths and lies that powerful forces have perpetrated on the American consciousness. He digs beneath the surface in a form of journalistic archeology to reveal the hidden history of one of America's most powerful families, leaving no stone unturned.
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Still Relevant, Impossible to Put Down
- By Emilio Largo on 12-14-12
By: Russ Baker
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Game of Thorns
- The Inside Story of Hillary Clinton's Failed Campaign and Donald Trump's Winning Strategy
- By: Doug Wead
- Narrated by: Doug Wead
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the first insider account of the precipitous fall of Hillary Clinton. How the scandals of a lifetime finally reached critical mass. How, in the last few days of the campaign, some on her staff saw the ghostly shroud of defeat creeping over them but were helpless to act, frozen by the self-denial of the group.
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President Donald Trump stopped that Clinton Machine
- By Paulette on 03-05-17
By: Doug Wead
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A Woman in Charge
- The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
- By: Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Dick Rodstein
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Carl Bernstein's stunning portrait of Hillary Rodham Clinton shows us, as nothing else has, the true trajectory of her life and career, with its zigzag bursts of risks taken and safety sought. Marshaling all the skills and energy that propelled his history-making Pulitzer Prize reporting on Watergate, Bernstein gives us the most detailed, sophisticated, comprehensive, and revealing account of Hilary Rodham Clinton yet.
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in depth and well-written
- By Katherine on 07-20-07
By: Carl Bernstein
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Unlikeable
- The Problem with Hillary
- By: Edward Klein
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2012, he skewered "amateur" Barack Obama. In 2014, he revealed vicious infighting between the Obamas and the Clintons. Now, New York Times bestselling author and investigative reporter Edward Klein turns his attention to Hillary Clinton and asks: why exactly is Hillary so unlikeable?
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Occasionally time dampers our memory - this reminds us
- By Linda S. on 10-19-15
By: Edward Klein
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How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune
- The Billionaire Who Wasn't
- By: Conor O'Clery
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In 1988 Forbes magazine hailed Chuck Feeney as the 23rd richest American alive. No one knew until then that he was extremely wealthy. Or was he? Born during the Depression in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Feeney had made a fortune as co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers, the world's largest duty-free retail chain. How he did it is one of the great untold retail stories of modern times. The greater untold story is that Feeney had in fact given away his fortune, in its totality, to endow Atlantic Philanthropies - one of the most generous and secretive philanthropic funds in the world.
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Horizons I never knew were there!
- By DTU_Garza on 08-13-17
By: Conor O'Clery
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Titan
- The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 35 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
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He makes Bill Gates look like a Pauper!
- By Rick on 11-04-13
By: Ron Chernow
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The Crusades of Cesar Chavez
- A Biography
- By: Miriam Pawel
- Narrated by: Jackson Gutierrez
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first comprehensive biography of Chavez, Miriam Pawel offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal. Chavez emerges here as a visionary figure with tragic flaws; a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled; and a canny, streetwise organizer whose pragmatism was often at odds with his elusive, soaring dreams.
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Cesar Chávez
- By Ed on 09-10-18
By: Miriam Pawel
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The Forgotten Man
- By: Amity Shlaes
- Narrated by: Terence Aselford
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It's difficult today to imagine how America survived the Great Depression. Only through the stories of the common people who struggled during that era can we really understand how the nation endured. In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation.
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a story of forgotten times
- By Debb Robinson on 10-11-07
By: Amity Shlaes
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All Things Possible
- Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life
- By: Andrew M. Cuomo
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.
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I Love This Book AND the Guvnor (Governor, I Know)
- By Igi M. on 09-02-20
By: Andrew M. Cuomo
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Not enough detail on his business life
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Charged with racial, sexual, and political overtones, the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice was one of the most divisive spectacles the country has ever seen. Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment by Thomas, and the attacks on her that were part of his high-placed supporters rebuttal, both shocked the nation and split it into two camps. In this brilliant, often shocking book, Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, two of the nation's top investigative journalists, examine all aspects of this controversial case.
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China After Mao
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Through decades of direct experience of the People’s Republic combined with extraordinary access to hundreds of hitherto unseen documents in communist party archives, the author of The People’s Trilogy offers a riveting account of China’s rise from the disaster of the Cultural Revolution. He takes us inside the country's unprecedented four-decade economic transformation--from rural villages to industrial metropoles and elite party conclaves--that vaulted the nation from 126t largest economy in the world to second largest.
By: Frank Dikötter
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The Dark Side is a narrative account of the decisions the U.S. made after September 11, decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In gripping detail, Jane Mayer relates specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of Washington, looking at the intelligence gained and the price paid. In all cases, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself.
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Must read history
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By: Jane Mayer
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King Icahn
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In this dramatic portrait of legendary and, until now, secretive financier Carl Icahn, best-selling business writer Mark Stevens takes us behind the scenes of some of the biggest deals in U.S. corporate history. A fascinating tale with a cast of characters that includes Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, T. Boone Pickens, Dennis Levine, and most of the other key players of the '70s and '80s takeover era, King Icahn is the first biography of the business buccaneer who changed the course of corporate America.
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All hail the King!
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By: Mark Stevens
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Good Profit
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Here, drawing on revealing, honest stories from his five decades in business - the company's many successes as well as its stumbles - Koch walks the listener step by step through the five dimensions of Market-Based Management to show stockholders, entrepreneurs, leaders, students - and innovators, supervisors and employees of all kinds, in any field - how to apply the principles to generate Good Profit in their organizations, companies, and lives.
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Good Profit for Business and Life!
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Power Failure
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No company embodied American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial power more spectacularly and more consistently than the General Electric Company. GE once developed and manufactured many of the inventions we take for granted today, nearly everything from the lightbulb to the jet engine. GE also built a cult of financial and leadership success envied across the globe and became the world’s most valuable and most admired company. But even at the height of its prestige and influence, cracks were forming in its formidable foundation.
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Much better than other GE books
- By Brannon Crawford on 12-26-22
By: William D. Cohan
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More Money Than God
- Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
- By: Sebastian Mallaby
- Narrated by: Alan Nebelthau
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- Unabridged
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The Paul Volker Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington Post journalist Sebastian Mallaby has garnered New York Times Editor’s Choice and Notable Book honors for his enthralling nonfiction. Bolstered by Mallaby’s unprecedented access to the industry, More Money Than God tells the inside story of hedge funds, from their origins in the 1960s and 1970s to their role in the financial crisis of 2007–2009.
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Valiant effort but lacking analytic horsepower...
- By ND on 01-10-11
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Private Empire
- ExxonMobil and American Power
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 24 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business, ExxonMobil’s sway over politics and security is greater than that of the United States embassy. In Washington, ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress and the White House than almost any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is a black box.
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Please no more accents!
- By Zak on 07-24-12
By: Steve Coll
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Money Men
- A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth
- By: Dan McCrum
- Narrated by: Dan McCrum
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When investigative journalist Dan McCrum first came across Wirecard, the hot new tech company that looked poised to challenge Silicon Valley, it all looked a little too good to be true: offices were sprouting up all over the world, and they were reporting runaway growth. In the space of a few short years, the company had come from nowhere to overtake industry giants like Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank on the stock market. As McCrum began to dig deeper, he encountered a story stranger and more compelling than he could have imagined.
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Interesting book but…
- By Rock Climber on 06-11-23
By: Dan McCrum
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The Bill Gates Problem
- Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire
- By: Tim Schwab
- Narrated by: Tim Schwab
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Through his vaunted philanthropy, Bill Gates transformed himself from a tech villain into one of the most admired people on the planet. Even as divorce proceedings and allegations of misconduct have recently tarnished his public image, the beneficence of the Gates Foundation, celebrated for spending billions to save lives around the globe, is taken as a given. But as Tim Schwab shows in this fearless investigation, Gates is still exactly who he was at Microsoft: a bully and monopolist.
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Well researched & raises important questions
- By Andrew Ballard on 11-18-23
By: Tim Schwab
What listeners say about Sons of Wichita
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- Jean
- 05-28-14
Interesting family
I could hardly stop listening; the author grabbed my attention and held it all the way to the end of the book. It is amazing how much information Daniel Schulman has been able to gather about the Koch family, from public records, newspaper reports and court documents. The family refused to be interviewed for the book. Schulman starts with Fred Koch who was born in 1900 and grew up in Quanah, Texas, son of a Dutch immigrant. His father was a printer who brought a printing press to Quanah and established a newspaper. Fred worked at various jobs and worked his way through school. He graduated for M.I.T. in engineering. He invested three hundred dollars and started a company providing the needs of oil refineries. He built this into a multi-million dollar company. He married a Kansas City debutant Mary Robinson. They had four sons Frederick, Charles, twins David and William. Fred worked the boys hard and had the boys compete against each other. They attended boarding schools and M.I.T. except Frederick who attended Harvard with a degree in the arts. Fred was a founding member of the John Birch Society. He taught Charles his political view point but Charles eventually became a member of Libertarian party. Frederick never worked in the company business and had very little to do with the family. He lived in New York City or London restoring old historical buildings, and is a collector and patron of the arts. Charles, David and Bill worked in the company until Bill broke away and brought many lawsuits against the family. Bill built his own engineering company which is now a multi-billion dollar business. Charles and David took the business over from the father and built it into a multi-billion dollar business. Schulman had done a good job assembling everything known about the Koch’s into a single straight forward, understandable account. The author leaves out no confirmable damming detail particularly about the Koch Industries indifference to environmental and safety matters. The Koch’s Libertarian belief about small or no government appeared to have made them think they did not have to adhere to laws that interfered with their business. After they lost the lawsuits from the EPA they did change the way they ran the company and started to adhere to all laws. Schulman interviewed employees to gather information about Charles’s “Market Based Management” system. The author points out that the Koch’s donate not only to the Republican Party but also to selected Democrats as well. The brothers individually and with the Family Foundation donate heavily to the arts and medical research. I felt the author presented a well balanced, well researched report about the Koch family. Allen O’Reilly did a good job narrating the book.
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- Grateful
- 05-22-14
Very interesting/enlightening
I'll admit it, I cringe whenever I see or think of the Koch Brothers, however I listened to an interview with the author and thought what the heck. It's a great story - humanizes these guys along with the rest of the clan - and let's you see where their belief system comes from. I even agree with them in a couple of areas, which kind of shocked me. I still don't like what they do politically, but I'm glad I listened to the book. I think both people that admire and dislike them will find it interesting.
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- KP
- 08-20-14
Early Life Details OK but Not Much on the Business
The most interesting part of this book was hearing about the Koch Brothers' father and their upbringing. Unfortunately, so much of the focus is on the scandalous in-fighting that there is very little time spent on the business and the intelligence and drive of Charles and David. While I learned a few interesting factoids about the brothers, it got tiresome listening to fight after fight, lawsuit after lawsuit, family vs. family.
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- James
- 03-11-15
Its Dallas meets Giant meets Citizen Kane
Who was your favorite character and why?
The least appreciated member of the family is the role Mary R. Koch, Fred’s wife and the boys’ mother, played in keeping the family from tarring itself apart following the death of Fred. It was her unifying influence saved this family from self-destruction. No matter how the boys scrapped it stopped when in their mother’s home
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Yes! It made me both admire the Koch's and feel apprehensive about them.
Any additional comments?
Whether the listener will like this book or not will depend on two major factors. One can the listener suspend any adverse reaction he or she may have to the Koch’s current political activity. Two whether the listener can view the material in the same way they watch J.R. Ewing in Dallas, Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, or Bick Benedict & Jett Rink in the film Giant. All of these archetypal film/TV series deal with sometimes ruthless men who have had to struggle and compete to build their economic / political / publishing empires. When these men reach their zenith of power they inevitably sow the seeds of their own destruction by wheedling their power without compassion convinced that the truth they learned in life is the only truth that counts. While listening to this book about the Koch family I found myself thinking of all three of these “fictional families” and characters.
HISTORY: In 1967, Fred Chase Koch, died at age 67, leaving his 4 sons with a lot of money to start their lives. Was it a blessing or a curse? Fred, an immigrant’s son, was a self-made man as he came from rags to become one of the wealthiest men in Kansas. He originally settled in Wichita Kansas in 1925 forming his first business Winkler-Koch Engineering Company. They developed a more efficient way of “cracking” oil and making gasoline. Heavy litigation by bigger oil companies nearly drove him out of business. He won the law suits but it was a hollow victory financially. He took the company international and built refineries in the Soviet Union, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is there he made his family fortune. In 1932 he made the most important decision of his life. He married Mary Clementine Robinson. Her father founded University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. From this union sprang Fred Koch’s four sons. In 1940, the year his twin sons were born, Fred joined new partners creating Wood River Oil and Refining Company, which today is known as Koch Industries. Fred died November 17, 1967 and the company passes to his four sons who were ages 34 (Fredrick), 32 (Charles) and the twins (David and William) were 27.
Fred, as father and mentor, shaped his sons in the early years to be fiercely competitive. Two of the boys, Charles, the second son, and David, the third son, took the imprint of competitor to heart and merged it with their souls. Together, with single minded focus and constant frugal reinvestment, they built a business that dwarfed their father’s holdings. William, David’s twin brother, appreciates how to compete and initially worked well with Charles and David but also appreciates the finer things in life. After a litigious buyout of his interest by Charles and David, William took his money and built a separate energy company worth millions and enjoyed a life style of a playboy and sportsman. Charles, David, and William all attended MIT, Fred’s Alma mater, and got engineering degrees like their Dad. Charles, David, and William all took positions within the founder Fred’s company and learned the company from the bottom up. Fred fast tracked the boys through the various levels of the company so they would understand the guts of the company he had built. And then there was Fredrick; as the eldest son he set his own rebellious path by attending Harvard and he got a degree in the arts. After that he enlisted in the U.S. Navy serving on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. Upon return to civilian life, he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama. He received an M.F.A. degree from the school in 1961. As a result of this Fredrick never underwent the ground up apprenticeship his brothers did. He became a patron of the arts and refurbished notable homes that had fallen into disrepair and neglect. In essence, at heart, Fredrick became a consumer and displayer of wealth rather than the conservator and accumulator of wealth and power as his three other brothers did. Fredrick seems to have a sense of entitlement, which may come from being the eldest sibling, and a deep ceded suspicion that his brothers were out to cheat him when valuing the price of his stock when they bought him out. Whereas the brothers seem to resent Fredrick’s desire to share equally in the mega company Charles, David and William built without putting in the hard work it took to grow the company larger than the one they inherited from their father. This all played out in a decade’s long legal struggle over the distribution of the family fortune Fred left his wife and 4 sons. During this struggle for control of the company sometimes William was an ally of Fredrick and sometimes be his opponent. This friction contributed to William deciding to cash out and go his own way and form his own company.
The least appreciated member of the family is the role Mary R. Koch, Fred’s wife and the boys’ mother, played in keeping the family from tarring itself apart following the death of Fred. It was her unifying influence saved this family from self-destruction. No matter how the boys scrapped it stopped when in their mother’s home.
POLITICS: Politically, the family founder, Fred, was very conservative. In 1928 he did business in Joseph Stalin Soviet Union and developed strong anti-communist sentiments from that experience. He was a founding member of the John Birch Society. This and other factors resulted in some very nasty press along the way which engendered Fred’s abhorrence to publicity which he passed on to his children. That is why the Koch brothers are all adverse to publicity to this day; unless it is for some philanthropic activity through their Family Foundation. The family refused to be interviewed by the author for this biographical portrait of the founder and sons of the Koch dynasty.
Fred’s political views were transferred to his son Charles in his involvement in the Libertarian Party. In 1980 David Koch ran as vice-president on the Libertarian Party ticket. He lost! . . . Since then Charles has been the puppet master by sponsoring think tanks, endowing educational chairs with strings, and provided financial support to mostly Republicans and some Democrats who embrace liberation precepts of small government keeping out of the way of business. Some of the organizations they underwrite are Koch family foundations, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Americans for Prosperity, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Bill of Rights Institute.
PHILOSOPHY: Libertarian philosophy, to my mind, have this idealized view of a level playing field; where stout hearted individual workers can, fairly and without government or union interference, contract with individual employers. The result is a fair market value wage for the skill set offered. In an ideal world that is fair and inhabited by angles, this might work in theory, but it is naïve to think this functions well where parties are motivated on either or both sides by greed, dishonesty, or lack of conscience. The Koch’s bring this naïve view to the area of government regulation in the area of commonly held resources, like the environment. If farmer x sells the Koch’s a right-of-way through his land to put a leaky oil pipeline on it what skin is it off farmer x neighbors nose if the land is then spoiled. To this naïve view I agree with James Madison when he wrote, “If men were angles, no government would be necessary.” The Koch brothers are many things but I don't think anyone would accuse them of being angles. Charles and David are like beautiful tigers. Just because the tigers are beautifully magnificent and good to look at, it does not mean I want to be embraced by them and prefer the bars of government to restrain the tiger’s nature. Libertarians argue that the bars are not needed. It impairs market forces. What is naïve about their view that the ground is level is the assumption that all competitors are of equal strength, and that market forces are sufficient to restrain larger or stronger groups from dominating and despoiling weaker groups. Finally they assume everyone will act in accord with their better angles or be free to simply take their economic ball and go find someone else to play with. This is not always possible.
HISTORY: The above philosophical view caused Koch Industries to run into a battle with the EPS which they lost. Following that battle Charles used what he calls Market Based Management (MBM) to determine that Koch Industries were too heavily invested in pipelines. He did not adequately assess or allocate the cost of maintenance of the asset pipeline rightly. By squeezing out every dime of profit from it by cutting maintenance to the bare minimum a disaster followed that prompted the EPA action. As a result of MBM they disinvested the pipelines portion of the business to avoid the liability from future catastrophic failure. Market Based Management works well to maximize profits only if your world view does not prevents you from appreciating the risk one assumes in certain dangerous industrial activities.
SUMMARY: The author successfully presents a well-balanced portrait of the family members. It highlights those qualities that the brothers share as well as those that divide them; those qualities which are altruistic and beneficial to the public good like their philanthropy to the arts and medical science; and those qualities that are more self-interested and are less concerned with public good over privet profit. I find this creates an interesting Yin/Yang dynamic. The Yang of privet ruthless profit makes the Yin of benefactor philanthropy possible. It reminds me of the Carnegie Foundation established by Andrew Carnegie to burnish his image of ruthless steel industrialist after he had worn all the marbles in the monopolistic early industrial age when he cashed out and set up his foundation that built half the public libraries in this country as well as Carnegie Hall. Bill and Melinda Gates as well as Warren Buffett appear to be following this model. There is much to admire in rich people that turn their talents to public benefit. There is also much to be apprehensive about when the rich try through purchased influence and campaigns designed to hood wink citizens into removing the bars that separate our collective necks from their furry muzzle and teeth. My only question is when will the Koch family feel enough money is enough money and switch over to full time philanthropy? Will they do it in time before they utter “Rosebud”?
The book is a great listen, the material is well researched, the narrator’s voice is present on the ear, and not taxing to hear over time. I recommend that you take a tour of this Koch family zoo and decide which one, if any, of the Koch family tiger cubs you would want to climb into the cage with.
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- Roger
- 11-24-14
Preaching only to the choir
I haven't any idea who paid for this book to be written, but the result is troubling all around. There is never a point that the author outright states he loathes his subjects, but by the handling of topics and general presentation of the subject matter, one can clearly discern his hatred of the Koch family. Which is strange as he clearly had significant access to information suggesting the Koch family was to some degree involved. The entire point of this book seems to be to showcase a political agenda which is made completely apparent in the last 2 hours of audio. I do not support the Koch's political views, and as intended by the author personally dislike the Koch family intensely after listening to this audio book, but I dislike the author even more for the dis-ingenuousness of the narrative. I view this as character assassination of a family that has achieved great things and deserved a more balanced view of them as individuals.
If one is interested in learning about the Koch family, don't read this book. If you are interested in reinforcing your pre-held beliefs of the evil Koch family's hold over American politics, you'll enjoy this book. But then you're wasting your time as you won't learn anything new from it.
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 11-04-14
ARITHMETIC OF LIFE
Three of the four Koch brothers are business men, driven by the arithmetic of life. The Koch brothers are tough-minded, intelligent, well-educated engineers (the eldest son, Frederick, is an art collector with a BA in Humanities from Harvard).Daniel Schulman recounts details of the Koch brothers’ lives that make one admire the Koch brother’s strengths and fear their weaknesses.
As a listener is titillated by Schulman’s stories of each of the brothers, one is reminded of Joseph Kennedy Senior’s biography (“The Patriarch”) and Kennedy’s determination that no circumstance justifies America’s entry into WWII. Kennedy’s underlying belief was that German atrocity is a matter of arithmetic not politics.
Kennedy believed Hitler’s Germany could be contained like any unfair business conglomerate that fails to follow the rules of corporate competition. Schulman’s characterization suggests Charles Koch would have agreed with Kennedy’s assessment of Hitler and that America made a mistake in entering the war. To both Kennedy and Koch, American entry to the war makes no economic sense when calculating profit and loss; i.e. the only arithmetic intelligent and driven businessmen depend upon. Charles Koch, like Joseph Kennedy, is the patriarch of the Koch family. Charles is the family business’s leader, the CEO of Koch Industries.
Schulman infers Charles Koch believes a plutocracy of industrialists, managed by the principles of market driven self-interest, will cure the maladies of American society. The arithmetic of business fails to address the nature of human beings. Creating jobs and wealth does not raise all boats; i.e. jobs and wealth are quantifiable variables in a sea of unquantifiable human’ needs. Human nature may change over time but only when, or if, humans reach a level of belief, and action “to do for others as you would have them do to you”. Until human nature is rid of lying, greed, lust etc., etc. , something more than market driven self-interest is required to advance society.
In the end, one concludes from Schulman’s fascinating book, the Koch brothers are neither devils nor angels; just humans with extraordinary abilities, tenacity, and luck. One’s fear comes from their delusion in believing the arithmetic of free enterprise is a panacea for society.
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- Kate M.
- 08-04-14
The Koch brothers and their squabbles
If you could sum up Sons of Wichita in three words, what would they be?
Family, money, power
Who was your favorite character and why?
William, one of the twins--he had 5 children with 4 women, and 3 wives. He had serious issues with his brothers and it seemed to taint his entire life. I wanted to know more about what was going on inside his head.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No extreme reaction except that I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.
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- E. Blagmond
- 07-29-14
What a family!
Would you consider the audio edition of Sons of Wichita to be better than the print version?
Very well done storytelling. You get a real feel for the way these folks are motivated and their interactions with each other. Easy to listen to and follow with great interest. Illuminating and provocative, a must read no matter your preconceptions.
What did you like best about this story?
The family dynamics were the most interesting.
Which scene was your favorite?
Very difficult to say there were so many.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I wish I had the time but yes.
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- KJA1693
- 08-30-16
Good story, but...
I wish more time was spent on the actual business practices as opposed to familial squabbling. Narrator is fantastic.
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- Matti
- 01-16-15
Liberal bias
If you are a liberal, you will find this book "objective". If not, you will notice the subtle and sometimes not so subtle manifestation of the authors left wing agenda. You might even suspect the author to intentionally attempt a character assasination on the Koch brothers. The book appears to be well researched though, but I have no way of verifying most of the statements presented as facts. Interesting read (listen), but only two stars because of the political bias. The audio performance was excellent, the voice was pleasant even at 1.5x speed.
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