The Emperors of Chocolate

Download or read book The Emperors of Chocolate written by Joël Glenn Brenner and published by Random House (NY). This book was released on 1999 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forrest Mars and Milton Hershey were visionaries who built vast kingdoms of candy through the force of their imagination and determination. In this eight-year investigation of the candy business, former Washington Post reporter Joel Glenn Brenner takes us inside a world as mysterious as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, where industrial spies jockey for trade secrets and paranoid executives fight an all-out war for America's sweet tooth.Forrest Mars, the "Howard Hughes of candy", is one of the most private and innovative entrepreneurs in America, a brilliant autocrat who built one of the world's most unique companies.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 fund what would become the wealthiest orphanage in history.What began as a fraternity of small family-owned businesses has grown into a multibillion-dollar cutthroat industry increasingly dominated by these two corporate leviathans. Brenner's investigation is authoritative, eye-opening, and written with a deep understanding of and feeling for her sub