David Rockefeller's Inside Story Told in Memoirs

In writing his autobiography--Memoirs--David Rockefeller did something no one else in his famous family ever did.  He published a book detailing life in his family's household.  A grandson of the founder of the Standard Oil Company, John D. Rockefeller, David Rockefeller was inspired by Katharine Graham's example in writing her own (Pulitzer Prize-winning) autobiography, Personal History.   Following in her footsteps, he wrote his autobiography himself, although he relied on research assistants and others to help him in verifying dates, places, names and other useful bits of information to complete the telling of his life's story in detail.In taking readers behind the closed doors of Rockefeller homes and boardrooms,  Rockefeller was frank and candid in his observations about his life.  The youngest of the Rockefeller brothers--John D. III, Nelson, Winthrop, Laurence, and David--and the youngest child in the family (his parents had a daughter, Abigail, as well), Rockefeller had a particular perspective on his family and its surroundings.In presenting his wealth of information about himself and his family, Rockefeller did not offer a strictly chronological history of his activities.  Even so, he gave more than adequate coverage to key periods and experiences.  They include, for example, the following:1)  the relationship he had with his grandfather, the family's patriarch,2)  the stern upbringing he had at home under his quiet, reserved father,3)  his university studies and travels abroad while still a student,4)  how he came to work at Chase Manhattan Bank (and later became its globe-trotting CEO),5) his relationship with his brothers, especially Nelson (the former governor of New York who became vice president of the  United States during the presidency of Gerald Ford),6)  how  he  met  and married his wife, Peggy,7)  his participation in both philanthropic and commercial endeavors, and8)  his life now as a widower and retired from the business world.Not since Nelson Rockefeller had to submit financial information in connection with his  becoming vice-president has the public at large had such open access to information about the Rockefellers.   To his credit, David Rockefeller  was very forthcoming in detailing his ups and downs, as a child, an adolescent, a young husband and father, a  businessman,  and a philanthropist.His autobiography makes a welcome contribution to our understanding of one of the most famous families in the history of the United States.