Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center

In this hugely appealing book, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, acclaimed author and journalist Daniel Okrent weaves together themes of money, politics, art, architecture, business, and society to tell the story of the majestic suite of buildings that came to dominate the heart of midtown Manhattan and with it, for a time, the heart of the world. At the center of Okrent's riveting story are four remarkable individuals—tycoon John D. Rockefeller, his ambitious son Nelson Rockefeller, real estate genius John R. Todd, and visionary skyscraper architect Raymond Hood. In the tradition of David McCullough's The Great Bridge, Ron Chernow's Titan, and Robert Caro's The Power Broker, Great Fortune is a stunning tribute to an American landmark that captures the heart and spirit of New York at its apotheosis.

The Washington Post

Great Fortune explains in a carefully researched, deft mosaic of anecdotes and personality sketches how Junior and his associates managed to build a city within a city, disdained by critics early on but eventually revered by them and the public at large. It was the first multipurpose urban center and, compared with those that came later, including Lincoln Center and the World Trade Center, by far the most harmonious. — Grace Lichtenstein