 Paperback edition cover | |
| Author | Daniel Okrent |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Rockefeller Center |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Set in | Manhattan |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | September 29, 2003 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 544 |
| ISBN | 978-0670031696 |
| OCLC | 58392831 |
Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center is a non-fiction book by American writerDaniel Okrent about theconception, planning, and building ofRockefeller Center inManhattan,New York City.[1][2] The text was initially published on September 29, 2003 by Viking.[3] In this book, Daniel Okrent provides a detailed story of Rockefeller Center creation—from conception to construction—and the role thatJohn D. Rockefeller Jr. and his associates played in those events. The text also explores such themes as big-time business, art, architecture, politics, and social life, and how they interact.
In 2004, the book was thePulitzer Prize for History finalist.[4]
Adam Cohen ofThe New York Times commented "Okrent has a good time with the most storied parts of Rockefeller Center lore.... A greater flaw is the book's failure to situate Rockefeller Center in a larger historical context, or to extract deeper meaning. It would be interesting to get more of Okrent's thoughts about the project's impact on the development of New York City".[5] A reviewer ofPublishers Weekly stated "Just as Okrent'sNine Innings beautifully telescoped all of baseball into a single game in 1982 between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles, so the formerLife editor andTime Inc. executive finds in the creation of Rockefeller Center a good deal of New York and many of the contradictions in American life as the country worked to emerge from the Depression".[6]