“[An] enthralling biography . . . Richard Norton Smith has written what will probably stand as a definitive Life. . . . On His Own Terms succeeds as an absorbing, deeply informative portrait of an important, complicated, semi-heroic figure who, in his approach to the limits of government and to government’s relation to the governed, belonged in every sense to another century.” — The New Yorker

“[A] splendid biography . . . a clear-eyed, exhaustively researched account of a significant and fascinating American life.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A compelling read . . . What makes the book fascinating for a contemporary professional is not so much any one thing that Rockefeller achieved, but the portrait of the world he inhabited not so very long ago.” — The New York Times

“[On His Own Terms] has perception and scholarly authority and is immensely readable.” — The Economist