How I Found Jeff Bezos's Biological Father

Bill Clinton’s father passed away before he was born. Barack Obama saw his father only rarely and for the last time when he was 10. Steve Jobs never knew his biological father and late in his life said he didn’t care to meet him. John Lennon’s father was fighting World War 2 during the singer’s childhood and resurfaced only during the height of the Beatles’ fame.

It’s either a quirk of history or a counterintuitive phenomenon that sociologists don’t quite understand. Children with fractured or nonexistent relationships with one or both of their birth parents are more likely to end up with psychological or behavioral problems—not leading powerful nations, companies, or cultural movements. But in these few, high-profile examples, for whatever reason, the unusual circumstances of their birth seemingly helped to create in each individual an overpowering drive to succeed and to challenge the status quo.