The Book Mistresses​​

Submitted by Mia

4-5 Stars overall on Amazon and the othe review sites

The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars

Joël Glenn Brenner, a former Washington Post business writer, is the author of "The Emperors of Chocolate".

Joël Brenner began reporting on the candy business in 1989. She is the first and only journalist ever to gain access to the Mars company, and her Washington Post Magazine cover story on Mars won numerous prizes. She was recognized five times by the Financial News Journalism Reporter as one of the best financial journalists in the nation under the age of thirty. She is a 1989 graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia and now lives in New York.

 

3 Stars

I found this to be an okay- written and enteraining book, to an extent. It is an interesting narrative history of the American chocolate industry and of American culture and in detailing the company culture of Hershey and Mars management style and beginnings. However the book fell just short  for me. I would have rather seen the author interpret the overall picture instead of narrating a tale. The way it was written caused the book to become out of date so sometimes the facts and stats are contradictory. Something I did find very illuminating was the relationship between the different Hershey entities (the trust, the town, the school, and the company) also the amount of diversification each company had in the product line (pet food, people food, cigarettes, etc. ).

 

Overall it was an okay book - interesting history but too dated in its references and too subjective in its portrayals of Hershey and Mars.

 

Questions we discussed:

1. One could argue that Mars and Hershey could not have succeeeded without the other. Do you agree?

2. What do you think of the ways that Hershey and Mars did business?

3. Judging from what you've read about the Hershey and Mars companies, what speculations do you have about Nestle?

4. What was the most interesting and/or appalling fact you learned about each of the companies?

5. After reading this book, are you more or less inclined to purchase items made by Mars or Hershey?

6. Why does chocolate play such an important role in American culture?

7. Was this non-fiction book fun to read, or was it a little dry? Did the author need to"spice it up" or "tone it down"? How could she have managed that?

 

The Book Mistresses through discussion revealed similiar thoughts regarding this book on the notions ( of those Mia founded, who chose this book) that it felt dated and that there seemed to be contradictory  information written by the author. Also, as a group we found interest in the management styles as much as the people and families running these conglomerate companies of extreme wealth,  long history, and their national and international entities. The companies beginnings are real life Cinderella stories that become evasive to the public as the identity to whom the glass slipper belongs. Yet no matter the secrets or sometimes bazaar nature of this true tale, the happily ever after is the morsel held upon the tongue that melts into the divine, and yes, that is the happily ever after for the kingdom of chocolate and we the willfull peasants. The Emperors apparently do not take kindly to story tellers sharing their runnings of such kingdoms. Ah but we also find these first account, second account etc... nuggets of documented hear say delectable. Ultimately, chocolate needed be tasted. Hershey verses Mars, American so called preferences  verses international preferences of chocolate. Results? We won't tell. You must read about these chocolate companies and do your own taste tests. Truely, this book did bring about good discussion and interest. Did I mention fun?!