Those of us who love New York tend to love the city passionately, for its past as well as its present. Daniel Okrent's Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center is a book for New Yorkers from Ashtabula to Zimbabwe: a study of ambition, audacity, and deal-making on a grand scale that led to the construction of some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. The cast of characters includes not only the many and diverse members of the Rockefeller family, but other powerful New York institutions such as Columbia University, the Metropolitan Opera, the Museum of Modern Art, and The New York Times--not to mention the radical Mexican artist Diego Rivera, the New Yorker cartoonist William Steig, the Marx Brothers, and a bevy of "Rockettes." Okrent's narrative neatly balances the epic and the intimate; he offers both authoritative pronouncements on modern architecture and reams of good gossip. Like New York itself, Great Fortune contains multitudes: densely packed, it remains surprisingly--and welcomingly--commodious. --Tim Page
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.
writes,
I read this book just after reading "Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City," having found them both steeply discounted at a local bookstore.
I love both books and find them a natural pairing.
"Higher" has been ably reviewed by others and I do not feel the need to add to what has been said about that book. However, I do feel compelled to come to the defense of this book.
Mr. Okrent weaves many stories together to tell the tale of Rockefeller Center: those of the Rockefeller family, architect Raymond Hood, impresario and movie theater innovator S. L. "Roxy" Rothafel, as well as a brief history of midtown New York (you might want to have a map handy) and the Depression. There's even a cameo by Diego Rivera.
For anyone interested in architecture, property development, New York, the Depression, the Rockefellers or the building itself, this is great reading. As one seeking entry into architecture, I particularly appreciated the anecdote about an unknown interior designer named Donald Deskey who gambled his life savings, outpitched the better-known designers to win the contract for the Music Hall job.
I had no issue with Okrent's writing. I was a newspaper copy editor for 14 years and can barely pick up a newspaper or listen to an NPR news broadcast without finding some nit to pick. It did take me longer to read "Great Fortune" than it did "Higher," but then the book is twice as long and when I finished, I thought it an even better book. Perhaps it's with the books as it is with the buildings: It's not the height; it's the breadth.
writes,
I read this book on the basis of a favorable review in the New Yorker. I found, though, that the book was rather dry and predictable. The one star review may seem harsh, but this book simply did not live up to my expectations. Mr. Okrent should probably stick to rotisserie baseball.
