Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business from John Jacob Astor and J.P. Morgan to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey

By H.W. Brands

Book Overview

From the early years of fur trading to today's Silicon Valley empires, America has proved to be an extraordinarily fertile land for the creation of enormous fortunes. Each generation has produced one... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684854732
• ISBN13: 9780684854731
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Pure inspiration

If you are chasing the, "American Dream," of becoming a successful entrepeneur, this book is definitely a must read! H. W. Brands has compiled a collection of highly enterprising and inspirational people in his book. I not only was encouraged by reading about such great American men, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie, I was even more impressed with the profiles of such determined business women as Oprah Winfrey and Mary Kay. Their lives and positive, business tactics shed a shining light, leading the way to establishing a successful enterprise.

Rome was not built in a day?

Common beliefs shattered by uncommon men- Henry Kaiser would have taken on the challenge to build Rome in a day!"Rags to riches" is another common adage; but the route to getting there is what distinguishes the daring from the rest. But the most important factor that has made these great achievers who changed and paved the course of business history is the strong desire to excel against all odds. What else can explain the rise of Andrew Carnegie from the drudgery of working in a dirty shop floor to being the master of one of America's greatest steel company. Do not read this book in a hurry. Brands has an excellent command on the English language and his style of narration matches the true values that one can derive from the 25 great persons described in this book.I have recommended this book as the first assignment to my daughter during her summer vacation. Your search for human excellence ends here.

Masters of Enterprise

An excellent historical overview of American business. You won't need an MBA or a stong desire to become a business mogul to appreciate this book.H.W. Brand chooses just the right level of detail while tracing the history of American business and building a comprehensive description of some of the most influential American businessmen/woman. He leaves you with both a historical perspective and examples of breakthroughs in business which describe the evolution of free enterprise.From the days after the American revolution, through the agrarian, industrial, and information revolutions, he paints a clear and accurate picture of how business has evolved to its present form and illustrates the role each "Master of Enterprise" played in this evolution.

Should be required reading

When I got done reading this, I sent an email to the author:I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for an excellent read, Masters of Enterprise. Reading these biographies made me contemplate my own future, and how I can improve the lives of my family and others. I kept thinking to myself, "Gee, I wish that this book was used as a class textbook when I was in high school." If it did gain mass acceptance for that purpose,I believe that it could cause a revolution in America.______ If you do read this, feel free to email me. I would welcome correspondence with a group of people who have enjoyed this book.