- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Random House USA Inc; illustrated edition edition (1 Feb 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679421904
- ISBN-13: 978-0679421900
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.5 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 602,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Forrest Mars and Milton Hershey built business empires out of chocolate. In this long-awaited history of the candy business, over eight years in the making, former Washington Post reporter Joël Glenn Brenner tells a unique story that is like chocolate itself, a rich blend of many compelling ingredients--in this case, biography and cultural history, investigative reporting and literary journalism. Along the way, Brenner takes us inside a world as mysterious as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, where industrial spies jockey for inside information as paranoid executives fight an all-out war for America's sweet tooth.
Forrest Mars, often called "the Howard Hughes of candy," was one of the most successful (and private) entrepreneurs in America, a brilliant autocrat who built a unique $20-billion-a-year empire. Milton Hershey was a dreamer who wanted to create not just a company but an industrial paradise, and after making an immense fortune, he promptly gave it all away. To this day, the Hershey company is controlled by a charitable trust and its profits fund the wealthiest orphanage in the world.
What began as a fraternity of small family-owned businesses has grown into a cutthroat industry increasingly dominated by corporate leviathans fighting for shelf space and swallowing their smaller competitors. Joël Glenn Brenner's investigation of this cloistered world is authoritative, eye-opening, and written with deep understanding of and feeling for her subject.
Forrest Mars, often called "the Howard Hughes of candy," was one of the most successful (and private) entrepreneurs in America, a brilliant autocrat who built a unique $20-billion-a-year empire. Milton Hershey was a dreamer who wanted to create not just a company but an industrial paradise, and after making an immense fortune, he promptly gave it all away. To this day, the Hershey company is controlled by a charitable trust and its profits fund the wealthiest orphanage in the world.
What began as a fraternity of small family-owned businesses has grown into a cutthroat industry increasingly dominated by corporate leviathans fighting for shelf space and swallowing their smaller competitors. Joël Glenn Brenner's investigation of this cloistered world is authoritative, eye-opening, and written with deep understanding of and feeling for her subject.
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First Sentence
THEO LEENDERS HADN'T moved from his desk all day. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THEO LEENDERS HADN'T moved from his desk all day. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:School & Library Binding
All my life I've loved chocolate. Not candy so much, but rather chocolate chip cookies, chocolate donuts, chocolate cake, etc. However, after finishing this literary treat, I find myself eating more chocolate candy in the space of a week than I used to eat in a year. I've discovered there IS a distinct difference between the taste of Hershey's chocolate and the European brands, particularly Cadbury's of England. Even the Cadbury's manufactured under license by Hershey in Hershey, PA tastes different than Hershey's! (I hate to appear un-American, but Cadbury's is Number 1 to my taste buds. And, surprisingly, the Polish brand, Wedel, is next best.)
This book is extremely informative and GREAT FUN. You'll become privy to such arcane facts as to why the owners of Mars, Inc. hesitate to put peanuts or peanut butter in their candies, or how some of the Hershey's workers used to get the Kisses to stick to the foil wrapping on a drafty assembly line. (Let's hope the latter is PAST practice!)
If you enjoy chocolate in any way, shape or form, BUY THIS BOOK. You'll thank me for the recommendation.
Format:School & Library Binding
Whether you like chocolate or not this is a great book however you look at it. If you are interested in business it is a great book, but more than that it is a book about how different ways can work at doing the same thing. Hershey and Mars are two very different companies, both successful and both originating in very different circumstances, with founders who could not have more different personalities. To this day the companies preserve their own distinct cultures extremely carefully for the very good reason that they both work. Which way works best - well Mars is the bigger more global force, but Hershey comes across as a sweeter company with its own very proud and generous heritage. Both ways work and the world is a better place for it, but inspite of the sweet nature of the subject matter it is as tough a business as there is anywhere. Great great book.
Format:Hardcover
Excellent book. Nice mix of business book and biography in one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tasty, informative, entertaining book
Reading this book is addictive and sweet as chocolate itself. A truly amazing story of Mr. Hershey and Mr. Read more
Published on 16 July 1999
Deliciously Entertaining!!!
Ms. Brenner has written a very informative story about two eccentric characters who have left us each their own distictive sweet legacy. Read more
Published on 5 July 1999
What fun!
"Emperors of Chocolate" is an excellent business book coated in chocolate. You will buy more candy bars while reading this book, but you'll want to savor the reading as... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 1999
Book Brings Back Sweet Memories of Childhood
As a child growing up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, I have fond memories of waking to the sweet smell of Hershey's chocolate and the wonderful aroma of peanuts roasting at the Reese's... Read more
Published on 2 May 1999
A book for all reasons.
I bought this book figuring that it would be another interesting, although somewhat dry, book on business. What a pleasant surprise! Read more
Published on 2 May 1999
fascinating
This book was the subject of the Readers Digest condensed version in their monthly magazine. I read that version with interest and decided to pick up the book. Read more
Published on 30 April 1999
An amazing story.
This is an unbelievable tale of two of the greatest American business men. You will never eat a Snickers or a Hersheys kiss again without thinking of the revelations provided in... Read more
Published on 26 April 1999
Excellent read!
As soon as this book arrived from Amazon I started reading and could not put it down. A fascinating read that had me gripped for days. Read more
Published on 22 April 1999
Reads like a novel, but fact-filled and well researched.
Ms. Brenner's extensive research is brought together in a most delicious way in this story of the Mars and Hershey families and companies. Read more
Published on 16 April 1999
One of the most delicious business books ever written
Brenner is an engauging writer. She knows just how to pull the reader into the story, provide tremendous amounts of insight and facts, all while keeping the reader mesmerized. Read more
Published on 11 April 1999
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