The tale of the Bechtel family dynasty is a classic American business story. It begins with Warren A. 'Dad' Bechtel, who led a consortium that constructed the Hoover Dam. From that auspicious start, the family and its eponymous company would go on to 'build the world,' from the construction of airports in Hong Kong and Doha, to pipelines and tunnels in Alaska and Europe, to mining and energy operations around the globe. Today Bechtel is one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, enriched and empowered by a long history of government contracts and the privatization of public works, made possible by an unprecedented revolving door between its San Francisco headquarters and Washington.

part one. We were ambassadors with bulldozers, 1872-1972: Go west! ; Follow the water ; Hobo jungle ; That hellhole ; Wartime socialists ; Patriot capitalists ; The largest American colony ; Going nuclear ; McConey island ; Weaving spiders ; Covert corporate collaboration ; The energy-industrial complex -- part two. The Bechtel cabinet 1973-1988: Bechtel's superstar ; Cap the knife ; The Arab boycott ; The Pacific republic ; The Bechtel babies ; The Reaganauts ; A world awash in plutonium ; It would be a terrible mess ; Ultimate insiders ; A witch's brew ; The territory of lies ; A tangled scheme -- part three. Dividing the spoils, 1989-2008: A deal with the devil ; The giant land of Bechtel ; Some found the company arrogant ; Global reach with a local touch ; A license to make money ; More powerful than the US Army ; The hydra-headed American giant ; Profiting from destruction -- part four. From muleskinner to sovereign state, 2009-2015: A convenient spy ; Privatize the apocalypse ; Nukes for profit ; The Buddhist and the bomb ; The four horsemen of the apocalypse ; The Captain Ahab of nuclear weapons ; A trial lawyer goes to battle ; The Exxon of space ; A nasty piece of work ; The kingdom of Bechtelistan.