Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty

Summary

Notlong after the death of his father, whose heart gave out suddenly in November1967, Charles Koch—then in his early thirties—discovered a letter his fatherhad written when his four sons were small. “My dear boys,” it began, “when youare twenty-one, you will receive what now seems to be a large sum of money. Itmay either be a blessing or a curse.” “Above all,” he cautioned, “be kind andgenerous to one another.”

Inthe ensuing decades, Fred’s legacy became a blessing and a curse.

Twoof his sons, Charles and David, joined forces to build Koch Industries, one ofthe largest private corporations in the world. But they ended up in an epicfeud with brothers Bill and Frederick that spanned nearly two decades, tearingthe family apart—and nearly Koch Industries along with it. Bill would start hisown energy company and attain a modicum of fame as a litigious wine collectorand yachtsman. After being marginalized by the patriarch because of his effetemanner, Frederick became a patron of the arts and a fastidious refurbisher ofhistoric estates.

Startingwith their boyhood when fraternal disputes were sometimes settled in the boxingring, Sons of Wichita takes you inside this highly private family andtraces the evolution of these four distinct personalities, as well as theircorporate, philosophical, social, and political ambitions. Influenced by theconservative, anticommunist sentiments of their father, a founding member ofthe John Birch Society, Charles and David devised an ambitious strategy tofoist their ideological agenda upon the nation—quietly channeling millions ofdollars of their fortune into a web of free market think tanks, academicprograms, advocacy groups, and more, while also building what amounts to ashadow Republican Party, replete with a donor network capable of raising asmuch in an election cycle as the Republican National Committee. Never beforedid they flex their political muscles as vigorously as they did during the 2012campaign, when Charles and David clashed with the Obama administration in whatCharles described as the “mother of all wars.”

Likethe Rockefellers before them, the Koch brothers are a great American dynasty.Unlike the Rockefellers, they have never before been the subject of a majorbiography.