 John D. Rockefeller, who had founded in 1870, who some consider to be the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history.Lemann devotes much of chapter 1, to the life and work of Adolf A. Berle Jr. (1895 – 1971) who introduced a revised theory of the firm, as described in "The Modern Corporation and Private Property" (1932) —a detailed empirical study with "statistical evidence" provided by Gardiner Means.In "'The Modern Corporation", revealed "how big and powerful corporations had become".