Category: Business Greats

J.P. Morgan was not the wealthiest of the great early industrialists. That title went to John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Nor was the story of his rise to prominence in the business world the most improbable or remarkable. The young Charles Schwab Jr. would claim that prize, in my opinion. Finally, he did not leave the…

It was a bit depressing reading this triumphant memoir – indeed, one of the greatest business books written during the twentieth century – in May 2009 as the benighted American industrial icon, General Motors, slid into bankruptcy. It made the story of Sloan’s storied leadership and GM’s dramatic early success all the more incredible. Beyond…

Succinctly put, I loved this book. Ron Chernow’s “Titan” is more than a great business biography; it is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. Although Standard Oil and the rise of big business in America clearly play a central role, this book is first and foremost about John D. Rockefeller: his convictions, his…

I had wanted to read a biography of Thomas Edison for a long time and put a bit of effort into finding the right one. There are several more recently published books on the market, but I found that Matthew Josephson’s 1959 classic was the consensus pick as the “definitive” single volume life of the…

About a decade ago, I undertook a personal project: read the best biography in print on each of the most illustrious (or notorious) Robber Barons. I read Chernow on Rockefeller (brilliant), Wall on Carnegie (very good), Strouse on Morgan (solid), and Klein on Gould (disappointment). I very much wanted to read something on Vanderbilt, but…

Few works of non-fiction have been as eagerly anticipated and commercially successful as Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs,” which hit bookstores a mere 13 days after the iconic tech leader succumbed to cancer in October 2011. Despite its blockbuster status, reviews were somewhat mixed, which (in my opinion) is inevitable when a biography appears on a…

Walt Disney is an American icon. In Neal Gabler’s award-winning biography, “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” the legendary animator and his eponymous company come to life. A Mid-Westerner by birth and disposition, the author suggests that Disney was forever chasing the idealized vision of his brief boyhood home in Marceline, Missouri. “Marceline…

Henry Ford may very well be greatest entrepreneur in American history. Few have had a greater impact on their time and culture the way Ford did in early twentieth century America. There are many biographies available on Ford, but “The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century” by Steven Watts may be the very…