I've lived in Fort Worth, Texas for nearly twenty years and names of well-to-do oil families such as The Hunts, The Basses, The Murchisons and The Cullens are frequently spoken of, but I knew very little about the history of these people until I read Bryan Burrough's book, The Big Rich - The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes.Introduction
It's hard to tell people about Texas. It is. It's hard to explain what it means to be a Texan. To anyone who grew up in the North, it probably means nothing . . . Folks in Iowa don't strut around introducing themselves as Iowans, at least none I know.
But if you grew up in Texas, as I did, it becomes part of you, as if you're a member of a club.
Bryan Burroughs intersperses the lives of these families, known as the Big Four, with the development of the Texas oil fields. What could be a book of facts thrown on the page is turned into an interesting look at the oil industry along with flowing words and vivid descriptions by Mr. Burroughs.