Rating: 
Summary: A Well-Written but Disappointing Memoir
Review: I was disappointed with David Rockefeller's Memoirs. While his observations on his early life were insightful, he failed to deal realistically with his career at Chase Manhattan.Throughout the book, he touts his personal connections with world leaders as the reason Chase Manhattan became a leading international bank. Yet he all but ignores that this debt was a major cause of the bank's downfall. If he takes credit for the connections, he should assume responsibility when the debt defaults. On the other hand, I found his observations about his brother, Nelson, unique and insightful. He sees the greatness tempered by the flaws. In my mind the highlights of David Rockefeller's career start when he retired from Chase Manhattan and dedicated himself to the family office. The story of the sale and subsequent repurchase of Rockefeller Center represents the pinnacle of a financial career. This is a well-written book. For someone, like me with an interest in finance and public service, it is a great read. David Rockefeller would rate five stars if only he had dealt more candidly with his failures at Chase Manhattan.
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written but Disappointing Memoir
Review: I was disappointed with David Rockefeller's Memoirs. While his observations on his early life were insightful, he failed to deal realistically with his career at Chase Manhattan. Throughout the book, he touts his personal connections with world leaders as the reason Chase Manhattan became a leading international bank. Yet he all but ignores that this debt was a major cause of the bank's downfall. If he takes credit for the connections, he should assume responsibility when the debt defaults. On the other hand, I found his observations about his brother, Nelson, unique and insightful. He sees the greatness tempered by the flaws. In my mind the highlights of David Rockefeller's career start when he retired from Chase Manhattan and dedicated himself to the family office. The story of the sale and subsequent repurchase of Rockefeller Center represents the pinnacle of a financial career. This is a well-written book. For someone, like me with an interest in finance and public service, it is a great read. David Rockefeller would rate five stars if only he had dealt more candidly with his failures at Chase Manhattan.
Rating: 
Summary: The Enormous Responsibility of Power
Review: My mind keeps returning to the Memoir by David Rockefeller the same way it does to politics, in appreciating the enormous power wielding by him, by that family, and by the numbers of persons like them do have more than an ordinary interest in the wealth, prosperity and success of America. For his own part, the Memoir is an opportunity to understand how it came to be so, and the highs and lows that come with making such extraordinary wealth. It is also an opportunity to discover the man or men behind the myths, and to learn that they are, at best, much like ordinary persons, despite their wealth, with a well developed and keen sense of how that wealth may be used to better mankind, or to ultimately destroy it. For David, I was particularly interested in his relationship with Peggy, and would love to learn more about that since it appears as though they had an especially loving and compatible relationship through which they both appeared to have been inspired, and enjoyed sharing the joys of life that people can when they do have such relationships. The sadness of a soldier of life having to tread on without his mate is often one that is far undervalued, and at least for women, produce the desire to know about the woman she was far better than could be explained in a memoir about her husband. Because the entire family has heightened influence over many financial networks that influence political networks, as well as in a more than average investment in education, scholarly works, and philanthrophy, the values of such a family are important to a nation, and that can often be best described and explained by the female head, perhaps, in this case, Peggy, even if it must be done by her children because it is usually the softness and tenderhearted female spirit in a family that provides much of the emphasis upon charitable work. There are few women of means in a position who can be a role model for other women of wealth, and it becomes the important work of illustrating how grandeur of personality provides the momentum and enthusiasm for many great works. Considerable effort was made in the Memoir to properly attribute much of that spirit to his mother, but my guess is that it was nurtured, fostered and flourished because of his wife. Therefore, it would be great to follow up with a book especially about her, .....for the women....so they are not forgotten, (as the reminder from Abigail Adams was to her husband in her highly publicized letter to him). I can't imagine a more pertinent topic than the opportunity to discover how two very important persons handled their lives together, and were able to accomplish not only children, but also the building of the empire they managed where coordination of efforts and spirits must have been required to make it all work. It is a topic right for the 21st Century, and it would be a great accompaniment to recognize the importance of them both, and their joint approach and diligent attitudes to help guide others. Because great beginnings always deserve wonderful endings.
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