Don Roberdeau Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Good Day.... FYI............ “The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes” Jan. 2009. 466p. By Bryan Burrough., 2008, Penguin Press, New York. Burrough (special correspondent, Vanity Fair; coauthor, with John Helyar, Barbarians at the Gate) details the multigenerational saga of the “Big Four” Texas oil families of Roy Cullen, H.L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, from the discovery of oil under Beaumont, TX, in 1901 to the demolition of the infamous Shamrock Hotel, the last bastion of oil-fueled Texas excess, in 1987. Since Burrough favors the human-interest angle, the narrative really hits its stride when the focus moves to the Hunt family in the 1960s. The real-life inspiration for the television show “Dallas“, the Hunts prove the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. In addition to splurging and feuding as only billionaires can, they (allegedly) masterminded the JFK assassination and later threw Wall Street into chaos with their fixation on converting their family fortune into silver ingots, precipitating what at the time was the largest bailout in U.S. history. This book is an entertaining look at the larger-than-life histories of the incomprehensibly rich and powerful. While it‘s an extensively researched synthesis of a time and a place, it avoids a dry, academic tone through the natural drama of these miniature empires and the truly bizarre characters that inhabited them. Best Regards in Research, Don Don Roberdeau U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John," Plank Walker Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges Clearly Under the "magic-limbed-ricochet-tree": Z-188, then, Z-203 to 206 Discovery: ROSEMARY WILLIS's Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Headsnap: West, Ultrafast, & Directly Towards the "Grassy Knoll" Dealey Plaza Professionally-surveyed Map Detailing 11-22-63 Victims precise locations, Witnesses, Photographers, Evidence, Suspected bullet trajectories, Important information & Considerations President Kennedy "Men of Courage" Speech, & JFK Assassination Research & Discoveries Homepage for Your Considerations T ogether E veryone A chieves M ore National Terror Alert for the United States: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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