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Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses Audiobook
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Through perseverance, solid ingenuity, and unwavering determination, family-run companies—dynasties—have dominated wealth and business throughout the last two centuries. One third of Fortune 500 firms are family owned and, in most cases, the ideal of the family business is one synonymous with continuity, watchful leadership, and dedication to success. But what happens when bad behavior, extravagance, and laziness—all very real enemies of industry—are allowed to proliferate?
In Dynasties, bestselling author and historian David S. Landes scrutinizes the powerful family businesses that rule both the financial and industrial sectors across Europe, Japan, and America to determine what factors can cause a dynasty to flourish or fail. Focusing on three areas—banking, automobiles, and raw materials—his cast of characters speaks to the power of the family enterprise: Ford, Rothschild, Morgan, Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Toyoda are but a few whose histories contain all the drama and passion expected when exorbitant money, power, and kinship intersect. Drawing on his immense knowledge of economic history, Landes offers a new reading of the dynastic business plan of the last two centuries—with surprising recommendations for the coming one.
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“Sklar’s narration is understated, keeping the stories well paced but avoiding a salacious tone. He often makes it seem as if the listener is being told an anecdote by a friend.”
— AudioFile
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Sklar's narration is understated, keeping the stories well paced but avoiding a salacious tone. He often makes it seem as if the listener is being told an anecdote by a friend.
— AudioFile
Dynasties Listener Reviews
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" Interesting, but not exceptional. "
— Sergei, 2/7/2009
About David S. Landes
David S. Landes (1924–2013) was a professor emeritus of economics at Harvard University and retired professor of history at George Washington University. He is the author of Revolution in Time, The Unbound Prometheus, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and Dynasties. Such works have received both praise for detailed retelling of economic history, as well as scorn on charges of blatant Eurocentrism, a charge he embraces explicitly, arguing that an explanation for an economic miracle that happened originally only in Europe must of necessity be a Eurocentric analysis. Landes earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1953 and an AB from City College of New York in 1942.
About Alan Sklar
Alan Sklar, a graduate of Dartmouth, has excelled in his career as a freelance voice actor. Named a Best Voice of 2009 by AudioFile magazine, his work has earned him several Earphones Awards, a Booklist Editors’ Choice Award (twice), a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and Audiobook of the Year by ForeWord magazine. He has also narrated thousands of corporate videos for clients such as NASA, Sikorsky Aircraft, IBM, Dannon, Pfizer, AT&T, and SONY.