Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center

by Daniel Okrent

Book Overview

Everything about the conception and creation of Rockefeller Center was outsized and wildly improbable. Launched in the teeth of the Depression, the most ambitious construction project since the Pyramids was the unintended result of a philanthropic gesture gone awry. But when it was finished, John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s accidental adventure redefined the very nature of an American city. In this hugely appealing book, Daniel Okrent weaves together the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670031690
• ISBN13: 9780670031696
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.3" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

A Page Turner Full of Fascinating Characters and Stories

This lively narrative history is full of fascinating characters and stories. The humbly powerful John D., Jr. (who financed it), the Victorian president of Columbia (who leased the land), Nelson Rockefeller (who took over command of it), and the extraordinary team of builders and architects who designed and built it--they and many others truly come to life. How do you build a vast commercial center in the depths of the Depression? How do you rent out the space? How does it become more than a collection of office buildings and turn in one of the world's great tourist attractions, and a symbol of NYC as the world's modern commercial capital? Okrent tells us with wit, with sympathy and admiration, but without sparing some of the gory details. A great choice for anyone who enjoys reading about business enterprise, architecture and design , the Rockefellers--or about the central character in the tale, the city of New York.

A Great Book

GREAT FORTUNE is even better than its best reviews suggest. Its understanding of society and social history, of architecture and architectural history, its authority of research and elegance of style--its sheer fun!--make GREAT FORTUNE that rarity among modern books: a work one can read and read again. Okrent's portrait of the great Raymond Hood is alone worth the price of the book.

Remember Tracy Kidder?

Daniel Okrent takes his little theme - which involves the whole history of American real estate development, big business, big law, big oil, the growth of the 20th century American university, the Depression, the New Deal, the growth of New York City, the twentieth century transformation of architecture, the clash of egos, the history of American theatre and more - and yet, despite this narrow focus, makes it even more interesting, absorbing and thrilling than Tracy Kidder's epic of building a single family dwelling in HOUSE.

Vivid Rendering of Rock Center's Formative Years

Daniel Okrent has produced a vividly rendered account of Rockefeller Center's formative years. This is a superb book, destined to the the definitive standard on its subject, that will appeal strongly to readers with a wide variety of tastes and interests. Seven decades removed from the event -- with Rock Center holding such an iconic place in the Manhattan skyline -- this reader was especially struck by Rock Center's seemingly star-crossed beginnings: its architecture universally excoriated (Lewis Mumford being among the most vociferous early critics, until suddenly and inexplicably reversing course); opening night at Radio City Music Hall an unmitigated flop; the sparsely-trafficked retail concourse derided as "the catacombs;" a controversial Diego Rivera mural providing a public relations black-eye, etc. With its leasing program stalled in the Depression-ravaged economy, the Rockefellers desperately slashed office rents from $4 to $1 per sq ft, under-cutting the market. Their tactic of buying-out the existing leases of companies being courted to lease space at the Center -- not uncommon in today's marketplace -- drew the opprobrium of rival property owners, including a lawsuit from August Heckscher (whose grandson would go on to be a high profile Parks Commissioner). "Great Fortune" is laden with rich anecdotes and compelling, larger-than-life characters like the mercurial John R. Todd (managing agent and construction manager and grandfather to the future New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd-Whitman); the lead architect with a penchant for fast living, Raymond Hood, and, of course, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his ambitious second son, Nelson, first among equals of the Rockefeller's third generation.Okrent is a gifted wordsmith (it's not suprising that the New York Times just named him its new ombudsman) who's penned an entertaining, fast-paced narrative. Anyone even remotely curious about New York City and its history will be held in thrall from cover to cover. Recommended.

Robert Caro Minus the Boring Bits

Absolutely terrific! An absorbing look at the social and cultural history of New York in the first half of the 20th Century, told through the prism of the greatest construction project in American history. I figured it would be good, because I've read the guy's baseball stuff before, but I didn't figure it would be this good.Wonderfully anecdotal, seriously scholarly, ujtterly captivating. And you don't have to be a New Yorker to be bowled over!