Bryan Burrough reveals how four Texas oil tycoons transformed America. Rising from humble beginnings through hard work and shrewd dealings, they shifted the balance of power in American politics. While hobnobbing with movie stars and presidents, the Big Rich also created the legend of the swaggering Texas oilman with island hideaways and sprawling ranches.

In 1892, Bryan Mealer's great-grandfather leaves the Georgia mountains and heads west into Texas, looking for wealth and adventure in the raw and open country. But his luck soon runs out. Beset by drought, the family loses their farm just as the dead pastures around them give way to one of the biggest oil booms in American history.

When philosophy professor Adam Briggle moved to Denton, Texas, he had never heard of fracking. Only five years later he would successfully lead a citizens' initiative to ban hydraulic fracturing in Denton -- the first Texas town to challenge the oil and gas industry. On his journey to learn about fracking and its effects, he leaped from the ivory tower into the fray. Briggle brings us to town hall debates and neighborhood meetings where citizens wrestle...

J.R. Ewing takes his last breath under very suspicious circumstances but not before stirring up a season's worth of Texas-size trouble. J.R. deviously guides his son, John Ross, in stealing the family business from Christopher and Bobby, while the ladies take their own sides. It's a season of must-see drama. J.R. and his Stetson are laid to rest, he's still calling the shots; bequeathing a legacy he calls his 'masterpiece, ' which leaves the normally...

"For J.R. Ewing, Season 13 is as unlucky as a steer at a Texas barbecue. He starts by lying and cheating Ewing Oil to the brink of destruction and ends by kicking and screaming in a psychiatric hospital. In between he tires of his pretty young wife, seethes while Cliff Barnes's political star rises and bumps into a past he didn't know he had. Meanwhile, Clayton and Miss Ellie investigate a multiple-murder mystery, folks from seasons past unexpectedly...

"This season some Dallas moneymen take a bath -and one takes a shower. (If you don't know what that means, you're in for a surprise!). The action begins with Southfork mourning the death of Bobby Ewing. But before the tears are dry, folks are up to their oil wells in chicanery, greed and lust. J.R. romps with his mistress, institutionalizes his wife and plots to destroy his new business partner. Mark Graison returns from the presumed dead to complicate...

Southfork in flames is just the start of another season. Pam and Bobby split up and other folks team up: Miss Ellie with Clayton Farlow and Sue Ellen with a hunky Dallas darlin' young enough to be her son. Meanwhile, it seems the brothers Ewing may be sharing control of Ewing Oil, guiding the company to more and mightier millions.

The saga of the wealthy Ewing family continues, full of sibling wars, adultery, reconciliation and power struggles.