In Dynasties, award-winning historian, David Landes scrutinizes powerful family businesses in Europe, Japan and America to determine what factors can cause a dynasty to flourish or fail. Drawing on his immense knowledge of economic history, Landes offers a startling new reading of dynastic business history. He provides fascinating insights into business legends, like the brilliant but difficult John D. Rockefeller, who became the richest man in the America of his day yet at the height of his wealth paid his children ten cents to sharpen pencils and wore his suits until they shone, or Henry Ford, maker of the famous Model T motor car, who shunned university graduates and put a former floor-sweeper in charge of his research lab. The life stories of these remarkable individuals contain all the drama and passion expected when extraordinary money, power and kinship interconnect, and are essential reading for anyone with an interest in business and world history.