john a. rockefeller's standard real empire. they don't take kindly to young fred koch handling this process and coaching one of their customers. but they still fred relentlessly as well as his customers but it gets to the point where fred can no longer do business in the united states and has to look abroad for clients and this is his political awakening. his first customer is at times imphal on the russian revolution has occurred and it has been decimated. the soviets scour the globe for modern oil refinery technology america did not have omatic relations at that time. and to rebuff the soviets. that they say they plan though worldwide revolution. so to get over misgivings of the soviets to enter into a $5 million deal by upgrading 50 refineries by treating dozens of engineers. for looking would it would be, but fred spends three months of the soviet union in the '30's and he is horrified by what he sees. later he is so plant of misery he writes. he returns home fowling whenever he can to stop the threat of communism. and in 1

tarbell, the trusts were an extracts, what does it mean to have a trust or a monopoly, she writes about how john d. rockefeller used undue means to gain control. suddenly the country says we've got to do something about standard oil, around ray baker writes about railroad abuses, sinclair writes about meat packing plant. makes it much easier for roosevelt. >> in a book full of cautionary tales, another one may be for the media, when you t up these issues for the tub lick to care about, they vote and to be active in all of that, when you stop doing that, as many media organizations sadly has done, the public goes gray on this stuff, right? >> right. the other thing connected too, during teddy's time they passed a law. that's what citizens united. >> citizens united actually overturned the existing order back in -- >> that's right. >> back in roosevelt's day, the book has incredible resonances for the contemporary scene and the situation we all see ourselves in. >> somewhere somebody has to do something about money and politics. it's the.in the system right now, sam mcclure said at one point, there's no one left

victims were those rank-and-file producers and locals who struggled under the weight of john d rockefeller's standard oil. a developed baptist, rockefeller was evangelical in his view. besides deeming his extraction of crude oil the dental, he believed that his corporate ventures where ask of do -- ask of redemption. this christian certainty gave him a courageous persistence and capacity for you think and strategic firms, that also a messianic self-righteousness and contempt for those shortsighted mortals who made the mistake of standing in his way. the mortals saw it differently. journalistion was a whose name we all recognize from text books as a woman who destroyed the standard trust. what is less appreciated is the degree to which in this moment her actions grew out of a wrestling with god and the ghost of her youth. i don't have time to walk us through her history of fascinating biography, someone who has been raised in western oil country to methodist parents , someone who took our methodist face seriously. movement which a was located just an hour away in new york. through her experiences in western

a great night. i hope to see you tomorrow. what?! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> announcer: from 30 rockefeller plaza in new york, it's "late night with seth meyers." tonight -- johnow -- from "a to z," actor ben feldman -- music from jenny lewis -- featuring the 8g band with fred armisen. [ cheers and applause ] and now, here he is, seth meyers. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: good evening, everyone. [ cheers and applause ] i'm seth meyers. this is "late night." how's everyone doing tonight? [ cheers and applause ] great to hear. let's get it started off tonight with some political news. president obama said this weekend that he plans to use his final two years to experiment with ways of communicating more effectively with republicans. which is why john boehner found a note in his lunch box today that said "i love you." [ laughter ] nothing else has worked. why not give it a shot. this is interesting. during a speech at an economic summit in china, president obama said that he wants china and the u.s. to strengthen ties that could lead to more jobs. "more jobs? i already have too many," said chinese children. [ laughter ] on fox news today, if you don't -- if

rockefeller oil companies. h thank you all. >> john d. would have been proud. >> exactly. see you later. >> speaking of chevron, an underperformers again today. a tough day and other oil majors. today under pressure contributing the dow being up only about 17 points and even it holding up better than s&p off 6 and nasdaq off 15. >>> decision day 10 2014. hope you get out and vote. a potential shift in the balance of power in the senate. our john harwood has a special report on that coming up. >>> house budget committee vice chair tom price and democrat chris van hollen is speaking with us straight ahead. >>> and then alibaba hitting a new all-time high after beating street estimates since coming public. now a higher market cap than walmart as we said. is that justified? so go right now and vote. your thoughts on that question. go to cnbc.com/vote. and we'll get to your answers shortly here on "closing bell." stay tuned. when diet and exercise aren't enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55%. yeah! crestor is not for people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines

a great night. hope to see you tomorrow. buh-bye! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> announcer: from 30 rockefeller plaza in new york it's "late night with seth meyers." tonight -- johnan. author and comedian, aasif mandvi. music from interpol. featuring the 8g band with fred armisen. [ cheers and applause ] and now, here he is, seth meyers. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: good evening, everyone. i'm seth meyers, and this is "late night." how's everybody doing tonight? [ cheers and applause ] it's thanksgiving week. people excited for thanksgiving week? [ cheers ] if you get very quiet you can hear my parents approaching. [ laughter ] be very quiet, can you hear my mother saying, "i told you there'd be traffic." [ laughter ] "you should have left an hour ago." [ laughter ] this is big news, secretary of defense chuck hagel will reportedly give -- he will reportedly give in to pressure from the white house to resign, hagel realized things were over when obama started responding to his memos with "k." [ laughter ] once people start writing back just the solitary "k," it's over. this is interesting, president obama was asked this week whether he thinks hillary clinto