Money & Power: The History of Business (Hardcover) | Released: 14 Feb 2001

Where there's greed and ambition you'll find . . .
Money & Power
From the pivotal spice trade routes to the streets where merchants sold their wares . . .from the royal court of Spain where a faulty economic plan led to ruin to early American industrial capitals and assembly lines . . . from the fever pitch of Wall Street to the groundbreaking moments in television and motion picture history.
CNBC's acclaimed documentary Money and Power deftly traces the movement of trade, banking, industry, and commerce from East to West, from ancient times to modern. Now this companion book provides an expansive global view of the moguls and dynasties that have defined business in the last millennium. Featuring a Foreword by the documentary's award-winning creator, David Grubin, Money and Power offers important lessons that are of timeless value-and inspiration for the next generation of groundbreakers and visionaries of business.
"You may think a twelfth-century monk has nothing in common with Bill Gates. In Money and Power Howard Means shows you how they relate, providing a highly readable and fascinating overview of a dozen of the most charismatic business personalities the world has known."-Janet Gleeson, author of Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance

The dramatic story of greed, money, power, and the moguls and dynasties that have shaped business

From merchant ships to microchips, industry has been defined by the powerful business leaders who have caused seismic shifts in the growth of commerce. The companion book to the acclaimed CNBC documentary, Money and Power takes readers on a gripping journey following the movement of power from east to west-from the feudal estates of medieval Europe to the halls of modern finance, from the teeming streets of ancient Venice to the serene campuses of Silicon Valley-to tell the story of how business shaped the modern world, and how the goals of a few ambitious people paved the way to the wealth and prosperity shared by so much of the world's population today.

A dramatic narrative focusing on the groundbreakers throughout history-from St. Godric, the twelfth-century monk reviled for his love of money to Bill Gates, the contemporary embodiment of money and power-traces the roots of banking, industry, commerce, and power. Fever-pitch moments in the book center around pivotal figures such as Cosimo de Medici, Philip II, the Rothschilds, J. P. Morgan, the Rockefellers, Henry Ford and others. The authors also extract important lessons about the strategies and tactics used to build these business empires.