Author – Bryan Burrough

“Bryan Burrough has long been one of this nation’s best storytellers, but he has outdone himself with his tour de force, The Big Rich. Set amid the rough and tumble of the Texas oil fields and stretching to the halls of political power in Washington, this epic tale reveals the hidden undercurrents of modern American history that flowed from four families of unimaginable wealth and recklessness. With an unerring eye for detail, Burrough dissects their lives and histories, starting with the patriarchs – struggling, poorly educated men who might have remained forever unknown if not for their success at pulling black ooze from the ground. The Big Rich lays bare their ignorance and aspirations, their principles and hypocrisy, their daring and foolishness, taking readers deep inside a world of affluence that has remained secret for far too long. It is, quite simply, a triumph.” – Kurt Eichenwald, author of The Informant and Conspiracy of Fools.

“It’s hard to imagine a greater literary marriage than that of the oil barons of Texas and Bryan Burrough. On the one hand, you have a collection of gargantuan personalities who in the 1920s struck it rich and then, in the decades that followed, used their wealth to transform American business, culture, and politics. On the other, you have an author – and native Texan – who writes, as he always does, with enormous insight and panache. The Big Rich has all the hallmarks of a classic American saga.” – David Margolick, author of Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling and A World on the Brink.

Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry’s four wealthiest families, Burrough brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood stars.