Sons of Wichita
How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty
Daniel Schulman
Read by Allen O’Reilly

Hatchette Audio & Blackstone
May 20, 2014/ ISBN 9781478901174
Non-fiction / Unauthorized Biography / Business / Politics / Audiobook – CDs / Unabridged

Reviewed by Nicole Merritt

Fraternal twins, Bill and David Koch, were at it again. Putting on the gloves was something they did to duke out an argument. Pugilism was an enduring theme in the Koch family.

Just to give you an insight into who this book is about, Koch Industries grew into the second largest private corporation in the United States. The brothers are sixth in the list of wealthiest men on the planet. The Koch family is equal to the Rockefellers and Kennedys. This is the little known story of the Koch family’s making of a powerful dynasty. Their holdings contain many of the household names we have grown to rely on. Sons of Wichita follows the personal struggles of these four brothers’ business, social, and political lives. Schulman uses countless interviews with friends, family, and associates to paint an interesting and intriguing biography of this powerful family’s climb to fortune.

Kansas rivaled other cities as an entrepreneur’s magnet in the early years. The Fred Koch family had a philosophy all their own; born out of a legacy of liberalism and anti-government in the 1930’s. He raised four sons, Fredrick, Charles, and twins David and Bill. He was the type of father who ruled with an iron fist. He wasn’t going to raise any rich bums, reining them into a common work ethic. Fred grew up in the ranching business in Kansas and Texas and knew the cost of a hard day’s work.

Today, substantial controllers of the “Tea Party”, Charles and David have tried to remake the American political landscape, free it from big government and have been highly visible in the 2012 campaign against Barak Obama. David himself ran as a Libertarian party candidate for Vice President in 1980. Bill, a cup winning yachtsman, built an energy empire of his own. And, Frederick, the sophisticate, continued to live a private life on the original family compound fostering an interest in the arts. His effeminate nature was a long standing source of tension for his father.

O’Reilly speaks in a natural tone with the ability to tell the story as if he were a member of the family reflecting his own memories of the events. Very interesting.