The Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram

A sweeping look at the post-prohibition history of the liquor industry as seen from the living- and boardroom of one of its (once) leading families, journalist and former Economist editor Faith's volume begins with Sam Bronfman, known as Mr. Sam, whose post-prohibition business acumen set the stage for Seagram's rise to international prominence. The company would soon be known for both its products-blended whiskies like 7 Crown and Chivas Regal-and its mid-1930s advertising campaign promoting moderate drinking (the latter, Faith argues, is one of Seagram's most important and lasting contributions). Following Mr. Sam's death in 1971, son Edgar takes the helm and watches Seagram's liquor business stagnate, before his ""finest hour"": parlaying Seagram's interest in oil company Texas Pacific into over 20 percent ownership of DuPont. Edgar's son, Edgar, Jr., in keeping with a generational trend toward neglecting Seagram's core liquor business, sells Seagram's piece of DuPont to finance the acquisition of MCA/Universal and Polygram Records, which were, in short order, sold off to Vivendi, the French media group, in a sale that ""destroyed the Seagram empire, resulting in one of the biggest losses ever sustained by a single family."" Amazingly, Faith is as comfortable discussing the distilling process as discussing French pay-TV network CanalPlus; as many strange turns as the Seagram's story takes, the author's versatility is indispensable.