Many of the world's most successful businesses are family owned. With this comes the threat of family bust-ups, sibling rivalry and petty jealousies. Family Wars takes you behind the scenes on a rollercoaster ride through the ups and downs of some of the biggest family-run companies in the world, showing how family in-fighting has threatened to bring about their downfall. Whether it's the Redstone's courtroom battles or the feud over Henry Ford's reluctance to let go of the reigns, the book reveals the origins, the extent and the final resolution of some of the most famous family feuds in recent history. Names you'll recognise include: the Gallo Family; the Guinness story; the Pathak family; and the Gucci family. An astonishing exposé of the way families do business and how arguments can threaten to blow a business apart, Family Wars also offers valuable advice on how such problems can be contained and solved.
Many of the world's greatest businesses are family-owned but with this comes the threat of family feuding, sibling rivalries and petty jealousies. Family Wars is the dramatic story of the feuds and bust-ups that have threatened some of the world's greatest businesses. It takes you behind the scenes on a rollercoaster ride through the ups and downs of companies such as Gucci, Ford, Gallo, Guinness and Pathak, showing how infighting has threatened to bring about their downfall.
Profoundly persuasive, this controversial book sheds light on the darkest secrets of family life and reveals the deep, genetic reasons behind its outward irrationalities and the purpose underlying its most apparently destructive drives.
Sneaker Wars is the fascinating true story of the enemy brothers behind Adidas and Puma, two of the biggest global brands of athletic footwear. Adi and Rudi Dassler started their shoe business in their mother's laundry room and achieved almost instantaneous success. But by the end of World War II a vicious feud had torn the Dasslers apart, dividing their company and their family and launching them down separate, often contentious paths. Out of the fires of their animosity, two rival sneaker brands were born, brands that would revolutionize the world of professional sports, sparking astonishing behind-the-scenes deals, fabulous ad campaigns, and multimillion-dollar contracts for pro athletes, from Joe Namath to Muhammad Ali to David Beckham.
The award-winning author presents a provocative, thoroughly modern revisionist biographical history of one of America’s greatest and most influential families—the Roosevelts—exposing heretofore unknown family secrets and detailing complex family rivalries with his signature cinematic flair. Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts’ rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contest that at times devolved into blood sport. His compelling and eye-opening masterwork is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless—in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient. Mann focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt, who, he argues, experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her Uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her father, Elliott—his brother and bitter rival—for political expediency. Mann presents a fascinating alternate picture of Eleanor, contending that this "worshipful niece" in fact bore a grudge against TR for the rest of her life, and dares to tell the truth about her intimate relationships without obfuscations, explanations, or labels. Mann also brings into focus Eleanor’s cousins, TR’s children, whose stories propelled the family rivalry but have never before been fully chronicled, as well as her illegitimate half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, who inherited his family’s ambition and skill without their name and privilege. Growing up in poverty just miles from his wealthy relatives, Elliott Mann embodied the American Dream, rising to middle-class prosperity and enjoying one of the very few happy, long-term marriages in the Roosevelt saga. For the first time, The Wars of the Roosevelts also includes the stories of Elliott’s daughter and grandchildren, and never-before-seen photographs from their archives. Deeply psychological and finely rendered, illustrated with sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs, The Wars of the Roosevelts illuminates not only the enviable strengths but also the profound shame of this remarkable and influential family.
As an executive at "The Washington Post" and mother of three, Steiner has lived every side of the "mommy wars." In this new book, she commissions 26 outspoken mothers to write about their lives, their families, and the choices that have worked for them. The result is a frank, surprising, and utterly refreshing look at American motherhood.
One womans journey to uncover her familys history and understand the ties that bind us to a particular place. Encompassing three centuries of manor lords and tenant farmers, Civil War heroes and renegade aunts, award-winning author Leila Philip tells the story of her ancestral Hudson Valley home, Talavera, and the mystery of her attachment to it. After her fathers death in 1992, Leila and her family struggled to find the means to keep their farm intact. This uphill battle led her to examine the forces that compel a family to sacrifice almost everything to hold onto a particular piece of land. Newly republished with a folio of historic photographs and an epilogue that updates the story of the farm and the family to the present, A Family Place addresses the tensions between memory and recorded fact, inviting readers to take a new look at their own sense of home. Philip is an extremely gifted writer who doesnt skirt somber emotional notes. She has created a brave, eloquent, and beautifully constructed memoir of a remarkable place and the remarkable family that belongs to it. Chronogram Author Leila Philip presents a tribute to her familys long and illustrious history, revealing a piece of Americana that is hard to replicate. A Family Place is recommended reading for anyone who wants to see the evolution of the American family first hand. Reviewers Bookwatch Philip grafts history, natural history, and autobiography into a stunning performance. Maureen Howard, author of Big as Life Mesmerizing Both narrative threads are profoundly personal. Braided together with insight, they pay homage to the ideals of home and family with a resonance that should extend beyond her home region. Publishers Weekly an unpretentious, subtly shaded story of the importance of understanding the ghosts and heroes that reside in every ancestral home. New York Times An exquisite rendering of a Hudson Valley family farm, as detailed and colored as a Persian miniature. Philips family history is alarmingly transporting, and her sense of place so rich you can taste it. Kirkus Reviews(starred review) Riveting one of the most finely written family histories available. Library Journal
A riveting account of how Christian fundamentalists, Orthodox Jews, and conservative Catholics have joined forces in a battle against their progressive counterparts for control of American secular culture.
