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

There is more than one way to create a lasting business. If you take nothing else away from this well-written and thoroughly researched set of biographies of famous American entrepreneurs, take that. From Cornelius Vanderbilt's use of physical intimidation to cow shipping rivals, to Mary Kay Ash's offer of pink Cadillacs to inspire cosmetics salespeople, we see a virtual rainbow of business practices that have but one thing in common: They worked.

H.W. Brands, a history professor at Texas A&M University, does an admirable job of highlighting the similarities as well as the differences in the style and approaches of 25 well-known business founders. The contrasts between the likes of Walt Disney and 19th-Century robber baron Jay Gould are pretty obvious. Disney labored to provide children with wholesome entertainment ‚ Gould to amass gold by any means whatsoever.

Brands also illumines the common tendencies toward compulsive work habits shown by Bill Gates (repeated all-nighters) and Oprah Winfrey (taping 200 shows a year) and the obsessive attention to detail of Sam Walton (crawling under Wal-Mart rivals' counters) and Ray Kroc (policing McDonald's parking lots.) So if you're ever tempted to think there's just one route to the top, whether it's being born there or just being lucky, think again. Masters of Enterprise maps out a multitude of paths, each with its own challenges and rewards.