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Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty Hardcover – May 20, 2014

by Daniel Schulman (Author)

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Like the Rockefellers and the Kennedys, the Kochs are one of the most influential dynasties of the modern age, but they have never been the subject of a major biography -- until now.

Not long after the death of his father, Charles Koch, then in his early 30s, discovered a letter the family patriarch had written to his sons. "You will receive what now seems to be a large sum of money," Fred Koch cautioned. "It may either be a blessing or a curse."

Fred's legacy would become a blessing and a curse to his four sons-Frederick, Charles, and fraternal twins David and Bill-who in the ensuing decades fought bitterly over their birthright, the oil and cattle-ranching empire their father left behind in 1967. Against a backdrop of scorched-earth legal skirmishes, Charles and David built Koch Industries into one of the largest private corporations in the world-bigger than Boeing and Disney-and they rose to become two of the wealthiest men on the planet.

Influenced by the sentiments of their father, who was present at the birth of the John Birch Society, Charles and David have spent decades trying to remake the American political landscape and mainline their libertarian views into the national bloodstream. They now control a machine that is a center of gravity within the Republican Party. To their supporters, they are liberating America from the scourge of Big Government. To their detractors, they are political "contract killers," as David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's chief strategist, put it during the 2012 campaign.

Bill, meanwhile, built a multi-billion dollar energy empire all his own, and earned notoriety as an America's Cup-winning yachtsman, a flamboyant playboy, and as a litigious collector of fine wine and Western memorabilia. Frederick lived an intensely private life as an arts patron, refurbishing a series of historic homes and estates.

Sons of Witchita traces the complicated lives and legacies of these four tycoons, as well as their business, social, and political ambitions. No matter where you fall on the ideological spectrum, the Kochs are one of the most influential dynasties of our era, but so little is publicly known about this family, their origins, how they make their money, and how they live their lives. Based on hundreds of interviews with friends, relatives, business associates, and many others, Sons of Witchita is the first major biography about this wealthy and powerful family-warts and all.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sons of Wichita feels as close to the truth as anyone is likely to get for a long time to come."―Financial Times

"[A] riveting biography...fair-minded and inquisitive. Schulman offers carefully observed details that help flesh out our image of the men whose money has so dramatically remade our politics, revealing much about their motives as well as the demons that haunt them."―The Washington Post

"[A] complex story of epic sibling rivalry, with important political dimensions."―Publishers Weekly

"[C]ompulsively readable... a bias-free book that illuminates two of the most influential figures on the American landscape while telling a remarkable, if cautionary, tale about money, power, and the bonds of brotherhood."―Booklist

"A straightforward, evenhanded and often riveting assessment."―Kirkus

"[I]f you care about politics and the ultimately far more powerful cultural direction of these United States...[this book] is mandatory reading."―Nick Gillespie, The Daily Beast

About the Author

Daniel Schulman is a senior editor in the Washington bureau of Mother Jones, and a founding member of the magazine's investigative journalism team. His work has appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Psychology Today, Village Voice, and many other publications. He splits his time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Washington, DC.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; First Edition (May 20, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1455518735
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1455518739
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #929,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,450 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- #2,596 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals
- #4,531 in Political Leader Biographies

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4.3 871 ratings

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Daniel Schulman

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Dan is a best-selling author and journalist whose work has appeared in publications including the Boston Globe Magazine, Politico, Vanity Fair, the Washington Post, and Mother Jones, where he is the magazine's deputy Washington, DC bureau chief. Schulman's first book, Sons of Wichita, a biography of the Koch brothers, was a finalist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and sons.

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Frederick S. Goethel

Very Interesting And Even More Important In An Election Year

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2015

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The story of the Koch family is one that is fascinating in and of itself, but it becomes even more so during a year when two of the brothers are about to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to elect people that they want in office. They are politically spoiled and want to be able to have their way, no matter what.

The biography begins with the father and his start in the business world. While he wasn't necessarily dishonest, his business dealings were on the shady side and he built a nice little concern for himself and his family. Because of litigation over his dubious business practices, he developed a distaste for the government that he certainly passed on to at least some of his 4 sons.

That there are 4 sons was a surprise by itself. I think everyone knows Charles and David, but the other 2 are much more obscure and less likely known. The oldest of the brothers is Frederick, who is strange in his own right and really never wanted anything to do with the business, although his aversion did not extend to the money aspect. He spends his time collecting houses, rehabilitating them and then filling them with antiques. A book about im would be possible it its own right.

Next in line is Charles, and I think most people are aware of him. He is a fierce libertarian and a shrewd business man that also has a streak of dubiousness to his business practices. At one point he joined a sort of libertarian commune (sort of hard to describe) and when he got bored with that he founded a famous libertarian think tank. He had a falling out with them and now seems to be content to build a vast empire and pull political strings.

The next two are twins: David and Bill. David is similar to his brother Charles, with the exception that he is willing to be more open and outgoing, He has out himself on a vice presidential ticket and seems almost to do the bidding of his older brother. Bill, on the other hand, is mostly interested in money and was happy to get his share and then separate from the family.

The dynamics of the family are amazing and that any of them are willing to talk to any of the others is rather amazing. All are smart and very well educated, but have distinctly different personalities. Fighting about money…at least for a number of years was a number one hobby of the brothers. One passage that I found of particular interest dealt with the offer Charles made for the stock owned by Frederick and Bill. They thought it was a low ball offer and threatened to try to take the company public to get every dime they deserved. A very highly placed employee took Bill aside and told him if the company was ever taken public, his brothers and a lot of executives would go to prison for quite some time. Very enlightening information!

I have only skimmed the surface here. The book s truly fascinating to read and should be on the list of anyone who cares about politics and the influence large sums of money have on the outcomes. In addition, the story of the family is sort of like a soap opera and should appeal to those who like fiction, but as they say, truth is always stranger than fiction!

6 people found this helpful

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Shane Kastler

The Kochs: Loved By Some, Hated By Others, Ignored By Few

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2014

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In his book Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful & Private Dynasty, author Daniel Schulman tells the story of the Koch family whose patriarch Fred Koch initially made his fortune as an Engineer/ Entrepreneur in the oil industry. A native of tiny, rural Quanah, Texas; Koch would eventually earn a degree from prestigious M.I.T. then travel the world as a global businessman. Some of his travels took him to Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union, where he saw first hand the devastating effects of communistic governmental control and learned what it was like to have a government spy follow him wherever he went. The experience deeply affected Koch.
Eventually Koch came to loathe communism and devote much of his life to fighting it. As a founding member of the John Birch Society, and also through a booklet he wrote called "A Business Man Looks at Communism" Koch fought against the perils of an ideology that he felt was threatening the world and had infiltrated America. Koch was a committed free market capitalist; a belief that in large part he passed on to his four sons.
Fredrick, Charles, David, and Bill Koch grew up in Wichita, Kansas as sons of wealth and prestige. But Fred saw to it that they didn't act as such saying he didn't want his boys to be "country club bums." They were taught to work hard and spent many hours doing manual labor on the family farm. Sibling rivalry was a constant way of life, eventually bearing fruit and creating tension well into adulthood. Fredrick, the oldest, grew up to become an art aficionado, who was much different than the other three boys. Rumored to be a homosexual, he was much more mild-mannered; showing no interest in the family business.
Charles, David, and Bill on the other hand, all followed in their fathers footsteps; earning engineering degrees from M.I.T. Being slowly groomed by his father to take over the business, Charles came back to Wichita and was thrust into leadership upon the sudden death of his father in 1967. Eventually, David and Bill would also work for Koch, which under Charles' talented leadership would rise to become the largest private business in America. The Koch family had an incredible knack for business. But they also came to be known for many other things as well.
In the 1960s and 70s Charles came to be a believer in the Austrian school of economics with it's free market principles and it's disdain for government intervention. Charles also adopted a libertarian political philosophy which flows naturally from the Austrian economic mindset. His beliefs would soon influence his two younger brothers (David much more than Bill) and in 1980 David ran as Vice President on the Libertarian Party ticket. Charles would continue to devote much time and energy to spreading libertarian ideology through think tanks, universities, and non-profit educational entities; not to mention political involvement. Charles saw the government as his enemy; and eventually it was clear that the government saw him the same way.
The book portrays Koch Industries as largely thumbing it's nose at government regulations, which became ever more stringent during the 1990s of Bill Clinton. Fines and court battles were a normal part of life for Koch for many years, until eventually Charles tweaked his mindset and tried harder to work with the government. The book quotes Charles, in 1978, showing a clear disdain for government by saying: "We should not cave-in the moment a regulator steps foot on our doorstep. Do not cooperate voluntarily, but instead resist wherever and to whatever extent you legally can. And do so in the name of justice." (pg. 228) But eventually, being worn down by government antagonism and litigation, Charles acquiesced, at least to some extent. The author concludes that Charles eventually learned "the world he lived in was not the libertarian paradise he wanted it to be." This cold painful reality has slapped many an American in the face; and it served as a "wake up call" for Charles. His new mantra was that he wanted "10,000 percent" cooperation with all government entities. It seems as though, while Charles remained committed to political activity, he sought to step more into the "mainstream" by supporting Republican rather than purely Libertarian politicians. His libertarianism took a marked twist from being staunchly anti-government to being a major player in partisan politics. Eventually this would lead to the Koch brothers as being major enemies of the Obama administration; and them doing all within their power to keep him out of office. Efforts, which history shows, have failed.
Beyond the political activity, the book goes behind the scenes in telling many of the divisive stories that separated the Koch brothers. Fred's will left a smaller portion of the inheritance to oldest son Fredrick, who had no interest in the business anyway. Nevertheless, resentment ensued. Charles and David, who were the most like-minded of the four, would lead Koch into incredible levels of success; yet Bill would grow to begrudge them both. Bill, the most emotional and rash of the four brothers, would eventually seek revenge through litigation, causing a massive schism between he and Charles that never fully recovered. Their mother Mary was also drug into the fray as brothers Fredrick and Bill sought her intervention in "evening the score" with Charles and David. At times the brothers would hire detectives to spy on each other; and the bitter back-biting took on a soap opera-like twist that Hollywood would be hard pressed to match. In the end, a certain amount of reconciliation took place. Twins David and Bill became much more cordial; and Charles, though still somewhat resentful of Bill's actions, at least is now on semi-speaking terms with his estranged brother.
The book is an incredible story of entrepreneurial success and interpersonal turmoil. Fredrick has made a name for himself in the world of art; Charles and David in industry, philanthropy, and political involvement; and Bill through yachting (he won the 1992 America's Cup) and Oxbow Corporation (a company he started after the ugly divorce from Koch Industries). The story of the Kochs serves many examples to the watchful observer.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, it's easy to admire the Kochs business acumen and commitment to hard work. They didn't simply inherit wealth and blow it; they built upon what their father left them. From a political perspective, it's easy to see the wisdom of Charles' anti-governmental stance in his early days. In large measure his adoption of what he calls "Market Based Management" has caused Koch to be the success that it is; and such free market mentality is tantalizing to those of us who would like to see it unleashed in modern America; where constant government intrusion has left frequent disaster in its wake.
As a Christian, I must conclude with a spiritual word. Though the book has almost no spiritual content (other than mentioning Charles once read the entire Old Testament looking for leadership principles) I couldn't help but be haunted by the words of Jesus, "What good does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) I won't pretend to know of the spiritual beliefs of any of the Koch brothers; but the Bible teaches that worldly wealth is of no benefit when it comes to eternal realities. Reconciliation to God, through faith in Christ, brings the true lasting peace that seems to have largely eluded the Kochs. From my perspective, this leaves a sad legacy.
As for literary matters, I found the book quite entertaining and readable. The author being a Mother Jones magazine editor; I certainly wasn't expecting a puff piece. I was suspicious that it might be a smear job; but it seemed to be mostly objective. At times the Kochs are painted as villainous, billionaire, fat cats; while at times they are lauded for their stubborn stand on their principles and their philanthropy. In the end, I would recommend the book. As a third party observer I have no way of knowing how accurate all the private information is, but this is true of any biography. Love them or hate them, the Kochs are definitely a fascinating story. And stand poised to continue their influence for years to come.

34 people found this helpful

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Nick

Human populations work for the benefit of the few, and goverments need to be subservient to these few or get out of their way.

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2014

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Very good book. Seems to me that this book demonstrates how a few nut jobs, who may totally hate anything that stands in their way to do whatever they like to do without any oversight or control, can and should do what ever they want no matter who is harmed or how many millions of people are hurt. I think it shows how some selected capitalistic leaders think that the market, as influenced by capitalistic controllers, is all that is needed to oversee them or how they may act in the open market. Seems to show how some people think that there is no need for any oversight or regulation or control beyond what a few people can get away with within that market. Seems to me it is showing how pollution is okay, harming people is okay, having no oversight is okay, influencing governments to do one's personal bidding is okay and that only a hand full of people have the right to do this and that all the rest are here to support their agendas and for little other reason. Seems to suggest that cash is the best oversight and market control tool. Seems to say that humans are nothing more than resources to be exploited. Seems to suggest that any oversight, any regulation, any protection of the environment or protection of human beings for that matter is unwarranted or unnecessary and duplication, because the market can handle it all just fine. Seems to me that this book is saying that our elected representatives are and should be servants of the few. This is an excellent book that every American should read. I think everyone who reads it will benefit from the views expressed in this book even if they agree or disagree. It is a thought stimulation book.

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Amazon Kunde

Den Schleier etwas gelüftet.

Reviewed in Germany on July 2, 2023

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Der Name Koch Industries war mir schon geläufig aber von dem nicht-börsennotierten Unternehmen dringt kaum etwas nach draußen. Ich hatte mir etwas mehr Einsicht in die Firmenstrukturen und Geschäfte erhofft. Den größeren Teil nehmen jedoch die politischen Ambitionen und persönlichen Fehden der Brüder ein.

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L R

see above

Reviewed in Canada on November 3, 2019

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a very interesting read

DAVID BRYSON

STILL FIGHTING GEORGE III

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2014

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You don't have to be American to enjoy this book, and you don't have to have watched Dallas or Dynasty, but it helps to have at least an onlooker's interest in American politics. I'd guess that for most readers the main interest of the story will be in the political side, taking `political' in a wide sense to include not just ideological and party-political issues but also the struggle between big business and the environmental lobby. The book also gives plenty of space to biographical material on the four Koch brothers, three of them taking after their domineering father Fred C Koch in temperament and ideas, but one his mother's son interested mainly in artistic and cultural matters, albeit from a billionaire's perspective. I call it a credit to the author that his well-written and highly readable narrative held my attention throughout these lengthy tracts of material of a kind that usually fails to interest me.

Such comment as I have seen seems all but unanimous in viewing the Koches as epic movers and shakers on the political scene, but to an outsider the appearance is different - they seem to have expended vast amounts of money, effort and personal commitment all to little outcome, although of course the promise of a free-market future is as real as ever to its devotees. Keep doing what you did before and the result will be different the next time - I believe the American riposte to that kind of thinking is `Yeah, right.' My own long and happy association with the USA dates back to 1962, and it is only for that reason that I can summon up enough presumption to offer an outsider's review of a story and a scene that is entirely American. I have been watching it all for all those years, and I know how it looks to me. This is not a matter of my own political ideas, which are a million miles from those of the Koches in most matters. The author keeps his own politics out of the story (although his tongue gets into his cheek here and there), and I should do likewise.

What is striking from such an angle is that this kind of American politics has changed very little in half a century while the world context has changed virtually beyond recognition, and not in America's direction either. In the days of Barry Goldwater and the John Birch Society the battle was against international communism, which was apparently some kind of unitary force poised to have us all speaking Russian if we took our eyes off it. The practical test of the `domino theory' in Vietnam failed to endorse such thinking, which has been in decline ever since, its last expression, even after the fall of communism, to have come to my notice being the insight of Mr G W Bush that the confused melee of disparate religious and ethnic sects, suicide bombers and bazaar-style political deals in Iraq involved someone or other `fightin' for freedom'. In 1962, and 1972, oppressed peoples everywhere were thirsting for Freedom as defined by America. So far as I can see nobody is doing that these days, but within America the battle-lines are still what they were.

The last words of the chapter entitled Out of the Shadows hit me right between the eyes, with the perception attributed to David Koch that the Tea Party is some kind of second coming of the American revolution. That's what it all amounts to, I thought - they are still fighting George III. It is an all-American bubble of romantic self-admiring narcissism with doughty American individualists brandishing their muskets to repel such horrors as governments and taxation. One book that sheds an interesting light on the origins of such ideas is The Hornet's Nest by none other than Jimmy Carter. This is a history lesson dressed up as a novel. It restricts its focus to one part of Georgia, but a particular suggestion that comes over strongly (although the President stops just short of saying it openly) is that no less an event than the Boston Tea Party was actually a price-fixing manoeuvre using taxation as a smokescreen. Not only is the present world not doing its bit to support Tea Party thinking, it may be that even the great ur-Tea Party itself was not really what they have been telling us all these years.

Daniel Schulman is commendably non-judgmental in his analysis of the value-set that underlies the environmental priorities of Charles Koch. It is all a matter of the bottom line, apparently. If environments get poisoned and even if people are killed through failure or refusal to carry out maintenance, then just let it be that way and pay the fines if you have to. Where an ethical dimension comes into the matter it is reserved for government regulation, taxation and the rest of it. Deja-vu and déjà-entendu stalk the pages of this book as I read it. The dogged convictions of the free-marketers are unshakable now, just as they were in olden times, and it's almost a pity that they can't have the old whipping horse of widely-defined and much-detected communism to attribute to their ideological adversaries. Maybe I can repeat something that got me at least one severe reprimand for saying it in an earlier review, because I received unexpected backing for it just recently. It is, simply and literally, that if free-market ideas really get loose and carry economic inequality further than is already happening, then the replay we are likely to see is not of 1776 but of 1789. I wish I could remember the name of the big international investor who said the same just a few weeks ago. Another odd omission from the book is any real attempt to assess the likely effect of the greatly-changed racial demographic of America itself. Have the Koches failed to take account of this in their WASP-culture? They can miss the obvious, vide Election 2012.

7 people found this helpful

F. M. Coleman

Beyond the pigeohole

Reviewed in Australia on August 23, 2014

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Fascinating and comprehensive. Initially radical libertarian in outlook, they have shifted in the direction of reactionary tea-party style conservatism in more recent times, perhaps to gain political traction for their ideas, though they still tend towards the iconoclastic. Refreshing to see them portrayed as human beings, whether you agree with them or not, rather than the cartoon villains depicted by the petit bourgeois left.

Terry

Rare Glimpse into Billionaire’s lives

Reviewed in Canada on March 25, 2023

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Very interesting bit of insight. Only disappointment was it ends in 2012 before Trump era.

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