The Bronfmans

The Bronfmans PDF Author: Nicholas Faith
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429904127
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
For decades, the Bronfman family ruled Seagram's and the liquor industry. This is the story of their meteoric rise and spectacular fall. The story of the Bronfman family is a fascinating and improbable saga. It is dominated by "Mr. Sam," the single greatest figure in the history of the liquor business, the man who made drinking whiskey respectable in the United States and who in the 1950s and 1960s built Seagram into the first worldwide empire in wine and spirits. After Sam's death in 1971, his oldest son, Edgar, maintained the business, though he was distracted by his matrimonial problems. Nevertheless, in the 1980s he masterminded a major coup when he translated a small investment in oil made by his father into a 25 percent stake in the mighty DuPont company. But in the 1990s, Edgar allowed his second son, Edgar Jr., to indulge his ambition to become a media tycoon. The stake in DuPont was sold, and the money reinvested in Universal, the film and theme-park empire. Edgar Jr. then paid more than $10 billion to buy Polygram Records and thus fulfill his fancy to be king of the world's music business. But at the same time, he remained in charge of the liquor business, which started to stagnate—indeed, to fall apart. Then came the final disaster when the increasingly divided family sold out to Jean-Marie Messier, overreaching empire builder of Vivendi, the French conglomerate. But the story of this amazing family over the past century is about more than booze and business. The Bronfmans is a spectacular account that details the larger-than-life personalities and bitter rivalries that have made the family so famous and, sometimes, so infamous.

The Bronfmans

The Bronfmans PDF Author: Nicholas Faith
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429904127
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
For decades, the Bronfman family ruled Seagram's and the liquor industry. This is the story of their meteoric rise and spectacular fall. The story of the Bronfman family is a fascinating and improbable saga. It is dominated by "Mr. Sam," the single greatest figure in the history of the liquor business, the man who made drinking whiskey respectable in the United States and who in the 1950s and 1960s built Seagram into the first worldwide empire in wine and spirits. After Sam's death in 1971, his oldest son, Edgar, maintained the business, though he was distracted by his matrimonial problems. Nevertheless, in the 1980s he masterminded a major coup when he translated a small investment in oil made by his father into a 25 percent stake in the mighty DuPont company. But in the 1990s, Edgar allowed his second son, Edgar Jr., to indulge his ambition to become a media tycoon. The stake in DuPont was sold, and the money reinvested in Universal, the film and theme-park empire. Edgar Jr. then paid more than $10 billion to buy Polygram Records and thus fulfill his fancy to be king of the world's music business. But at the same time, he remained in charge of the liquor business, which started to stagnate—indeed, to fall apart. Then came the final disaster when the increasingly divided family sold out to Jean-Marie Messier, overreaching empire builder of Vivendi, the French conglomerate. But the story of this amazing family over the past century is about more than booze and business. The Bronfmans is a spectacular account that details the larger-than-life personalities and bitter rivalries that have made the family so famous and, sometimes, so infamous.

Bronfman Dynasty

Bronfman Dynasty PDF Author: Peter C. Newman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description


Distilled

Distilled PDF Author: Charles Bronfman
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1443448494
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
While much has been written about his father, Sam, a titan of industry, there is no public record of Charles Bronfman’s thoughts on his own life, family, career and his significant accomplishments in sport and philanthropy. Distilled does just that, chronicling key events in the life of the heir to one of Canada’s great fortunes. Born in 1931 to the fabulously wealthy Bronfmans, Charles grew up in a 20-room mansion with many staff. Via their control of the distilling giant Seagram, the Bronfman family dominated the liquor business with brands such as Crown Royal, V.O. and Chivas Regal. By the 1980s, Seagram was also the biggest shareholder of DuPont and by the 1990s, the family’s wealth was in the billions, culminating in the $35-billion sale of Seagram to France’s Vivendi, which turned into a financial and family disaster. In Distilled, Charles reflects on all of it---his relationship with his parents, his brother Edgar, working in the family business, landing Canada’s first big league baseball franchise (the Montreal Expos), leading a philanthropic life by promoting Canadian identity through Heritage Minutes and supporting Israel through countless innovative initiatives including the globally respected Birthright Israel---and to how the Bronfman family splintered over the sale of Seagram.

Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History [2 volumes]

Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History [2 volumes] PDF Author: Jack S. Blocker Jr.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1576078345
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 805

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Book Description
A comprehensive encyclopedia on all aspects of the production, consumption, and social impact of alcohol. Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia spans the history of alcohol production and consumption from the development of distilled spirits and modern manufacturing and distribution methods to the present. Authoritative and unbiased, it brings together the work of hundreds of experts from a variety of disciplines with an emphasis on the extraordinary wealth of scholarship developed in the past several decades. Its nearly 500 alphabetically organized entries range beyond the principal alcoholic beverages and major producers and retailers to explore attitudes toward alcohol in various countries and religions, traditional drinking occasions and rituals, and images of drinking and temperance in art, painting, literature, and drama. Other entries describe international treaties and organizations related to alcohol production and distribution, global consumption patterns, and research and treatment institutions, as well as temperance, prohibition, and antiprohibitionist efforts worldwide.

Alcohol and Drugs in North America [2 volumes]

Alcohol and Drugs in North America [2 volumes] PDF Author: David M. Fahey
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 968

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Book Description
Alcohol and drugs play a significant role in society, regardless of socioeconomic class. This encyclopedia looks at the history of all drugs in North America, including alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and even chocolate and caffeinated drinks. This two-volume encyclopedia provides accessibly written coverage on a wide range of topics, covering substances ranging from whiskey to peyote as well as related topics such as Mexican drug trafficking and societal effects caused by specific drugs. The entries also supply an excellent overview of the history of temperance movements in Canada and the United States; trends in alcohol consumption, its production, and its role in the economy; as well as alcohol's and drugs' roles in shaping national discourse, the creation of organizations for treatment and study, and legal responses. This resource includes primary documents and a bibliography offering important books, articles, and Internet sources related to the topic.

One Nation Under Blackmail - Vol. 1

One Nation Under Blackmail - Vol. 1 PDF Author: Whitney Alyse Webb
Publisher: TrineDay
ISBN: 163424303X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
Exposes vastly under-explored topics compared to other media reports and books on Jeffrey Epstein How did Jeffrey Epstein manage to evade justice for decades? Who enabled him and why? Why were legal officials told that Epstein “ belonged to intelligence” and to back off during his first arrest in the mid-2000s? Volume 1 of One Nation Under Blackmail traces the origin of the network behind Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to the merging of organized crime and intelligence networks during World War II and follows their most notable activities through the decades. Various scandals, acts of corruption and other crimes throughout the last several decades of American history, many involving sex blackmail, can be traced back to these same networks, which have subverted and taken control of many of America' s most important institutions for their benefit, and to the detriment of the public.

Iced

Iced PDF Author: Stephen Schneider
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470835001
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 657

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Book Description
"You're lucky he didn't have an ice pick in his hands. I know how this guy performs." -Mobster Paul Volpe speaking about a Buffalo-mafia enforcer named "Cicci" Canada is lauded the world over as a law abiding, peaceful country - a shining example to all nations. Such a view, also shared by most Canadians, is typically naïve and misinformed. Throughout its history, to present day and beyond, Canada has been and will continue to be home to criminals and crime organizations that are brilliant at finding ways to make money - a lot of money - illegally. Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada is a remarkable parallel history to the one generally accepted and taught in our schools. Organized crime has had a significant impact on the shaping of this country and the lives of its people. The most violent and thuggish - outlaw motorcycle gangs like Hells Angels - have been raised to mythic proportions. The families who owned distilleries during Prohibition, such as the Bronfmans, built vast fortunes that today are vested in corporate holdings. The mafia in Montreal created and controlled the largest heroin and cocaine smuggling empire in the world, feeding the insatiable appetite of our American neighbours. Today, gangs are laying waste the streets of Vancouver, and "BC bud" flows into the U.S. as the marijuana of choice. Organized crime is as old as this nation's founding, with pirates ravaging the east coast, even as hired guns by colonial governments. Since our nation's earliest times, government and crime groups have found that collusion can have its mutual benefits. Comprehensive, informative and entertaining - as you will discover in the remarkable period pieces devised by the author and the illustrations commissioned specially for this book - Iced is a romp across the nation and across the centuries. In these pages you will meet crime groups that are at once sordid and inept, yet resourceful entrepreneurs and self-proclaimed champions of the underdog, who operate in full sight of their communities and the law. This is the definitive book on organized crime in Canada, and a unique contribution to our understanding of Canadian history.

American Smuggling as White Collar Crime

American Smuggling as White Collar Crime PDF Author: Lawrence Karson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317647033
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
When Edwin Sutherland introduced the concept of white-collar crime, he referred to the respectable businessmen of his day who had, in the course of their occupations, violated the law whenever it was advantageous to do so. Yet since the founding of the American Republic, numerous otherwise respectable individuals had been involved in white-collar criminality. Using organized smuggling as an exemplar, this narrative history of American smuggling establishes that white-collar crime has always been an integral part of American history when conditions were favorable to violating the law. This dark side of the American Dream originally exposed itself in colonial times with elite merchants of communities such as Boston trafficking contraband into the colonies. It again came to the forefront during the Embargo of 1809 and continued through the War of 1812, the Civil War, nineteenth century filibustering, the Mexican Revolution and Prohibition. The author also shows that the years of illegal opium trade with China by American merchants served as precursor to the later smuggling of opium into the United States. The author confirms that each period of smuggling was a link in the continuing chain of white-collar crime in the 150 years prior to Sutherland’s assertion of corporate criminality.

Smart Globalization

Smart Globalization PDF Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442616121
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Today's globalization debates pit neoliberals, who favour even deeper integration into the global economy, against neo-mercantilists, who call for a relatively selective approach to globalization and the return to more interventionist industrial policies. Both sides claim to have the facts on their side. Inspired by the work of economists Ha-Joon Chang and Dani Rodrik, editors Andrew Smith and Dimitry Anastakis bring together essays from both historians and economists in this collection to test claims that wealth comes from either protectionism or free trade. With empirical research that spans more than a century of Canadian history, Smart Globalization demonstrates that Canada's success stemmed neither from complete openness to globalization or policies of isolation and self-sufficiency.

Fortune's Fool

Fortune's Fool PDF Author: Fred Goodman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439160503
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
In 1999, when Napster made music available free online, the music industry found itself in a fight for its life. A decade later, the most important and misunderstood story—and the one with the greatest implications for both music lovers and media companies—is how the music industry has failed to remake itself. In Fortune’s Fool, Fred Goodman, the author of The Mansion on the Hill, shows how this happened by presenting the singular history of Edgar M. Bronfman Jr., the controversial heir to Seagram’s, who, after dismantling his family’s empire and fortune, made a high-stakes gamble to remake both the music industry and his own reputation. Napster had successfully blown the industry off its commercial foundations because all that the old school label heads knew how to do was record and market hits. So when Bronfman took over the Warner Music Group in 2004, his challenge was to create a new kind of record executive. Goodman finds the source of the crisis in the dissolution of the old Warner Music Group, the brilliant conglomerate of Atlantic, Elektra, and Warner Bros. Records. He shows how Doug Morris, the head of Atlantic Records, rose through the ranks and rode the CD bonanza of the 1990s to enormous corporate and personal profit before becoming embroiled in an ego-driven corporate turf war, and how all of Warner’s record executives were blindsided when AOL/Time-Warner announced in 2003 that it wanted nothing more to do with the record industry. When the music group was finally sold to Bronfman, it was a ghost of itself. Bronfman built an aggressive, streamlined team headed by Lyor Cohen, whose relentless ambition and discipline had helped build Def Jam Records. They instituted a series of daring initiatives intended to give customers legitimate online music choices and took market share from Warner’s competitors. But despite these efforts, illegal downloads still outnumber legitimate ones 19–1. Most of the talk of a new world of music and media has proven empty; despite the success of iTunes, even wildly popular sites like YouTube and MySpace have not found a way to make money with music. Instead, Warner and the other labels are diversifying and forcing young artists to give them a cut of their income from touring, publishing, and merchandising. Meanwhile, the average downloader isn’t even meeting forward-thinking musicians halfway. Each time a young band finds a following through music websites, it’s a unique story; no formula has emerged. If one does, Warner is probably in a better position than anyone to exploit it. But at the end of the day, If is the one-word verdict on Bronfman’s big bet.