Stuff
Product Details
Simon & Schuster, January 2007
Trade Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 074326410X
ISBN-13: 9780743264105
Description
The name Hershey evokes many things: chocolate bars, the company town in Pennsylvania, one of America's most recognizable brands. But who was the man behind the name? In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day.
Hershey, the son of a minister's daughter and an irresponsible father who deserted the family, began his career inauspiciously when the two candy shops he opened both went bankrupt. Undeterred, he started the Lancaster Caramel Company, which brought him success at last. Eventually he sold his caramel operation and went on to perfect the production process of chocolate to create a stable, consistent bar with a long shelf life...and an American icon was born.
Hershey was more than a successful businessman -- he was a progressive thinker who believed in capitalism as a means to higher goals. He built the world's largest chocolate factory and a utopian village for his workers on a large tract of land in rural Pennsylvania, and used his own fortune to keep his workers employed during the Great Depression. In addition, he secretly willed his fortune to a boys' school and orphanage, both of which now control a vast endowment.
Extensively researched and vividly written, Hershey is the fascinating story of this uniquely American visionary.
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"Wonderfully written, carefully researched, and full of remarkable stories, this account of an eccentric, gifted -- yet iconic -- American and his times is a historical page-turner, at once instructive and engaging. Hershey is about a lot more than chocolate. Michael D'Antonio's portrait of Milton S. Hershey weaves together exemplary episodes in the history of nineteenth and twentieth century business, community-building, philanthropy, and education."
-- Michael B. Katz, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
-- Michael B. Katz, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
"A good indication of the significance of Milton Hershey is that, more than sixty years after his death, many residents of Hershey, Pennsylvania, still refer to him as Mr. Hershey. He was an engagingly self-made inventor, businessman, philanthropist, and utopian dreamer. This is a fascinating story from the golden age of American enterprise."
-- David Owen, author of Copies in Seconds
-- David Owen, author of Copies in Seconds
"[C]aptivating...unfolds much like a good novel."
-- Jonathan Potts, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A charming and absorbing account of one of American capitalism's eccentric visionaries."
-- Anthony Day, Los Angeles Times
Yahoo!, August 16, 2011
...Understanding the post-crisis consumer In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, world-renowned expert on consumer values, and Pulitzer prizewinning author Michael D'Antonio document the rise of a vibrant, values-driven post-recession economy. To tell ...
Los Angeles Daily News, April 3, 2009
...the Dodgers' owner as someone who, well, you know, had ulterior motives. In the new book by historian Michael D'Antonio, 'Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and ...
Los Angeles Daily News, April 3, 2009
...or Roger Kahn decided was an accurate portrayal of the Dodgers' owner. In the new book by historian Michael D'Antonio, 'Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and New ...
Michael D'Antonio's Books
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A Ball, a Dog, and a MonkeyA Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey tells the remarkable story of America's first efforts to succeed in space, a time of exploding rockets, national space...Read More
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The State Boys RebellionA Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the amazing story of how a group of imprisoned boys won their freedom, found justice, and survived one of the...Read More
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