In 1889, John D. Rockefeller was at the peak of his power, and having annihilated all competition and possessing near-total domination of the market, even the U.S. government was wary of challenging Standard Oil. The Standard never loses—that is until Jewish merchant Marcus Samuel, Jr. and Dutch oilman Henri Deterding teamed up to form Royal Dutch Shell. In this riveting account of ambition, oil, and greed, Peter Doran traces Samuel's rise from outsider to the heights of the British aristocracy, Deterding's conquest of America, and the collapse of Rockefeller's monopoly.