Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams

The name means chocolate to America and the world, but as author D'Antonio reveals, it also stands for an inspiring man and a uniquely successful experiment in community and capitalism that produced a business empire devoted to a higher purpose. Milton S. Hershey brought affordable milk chocolate to America, creating and then satisfying the chocoholic urges of millions, and pioneering techniques of branding, mass production, and marketing. But as he developed massive factories, Cuban sugar plantations, and a vacation wonderland called Hershey Park, M.S. never lost sight of a grander goal. Determined that his wealth produce a lasting legacy, he tried to create perfect places where his workers could live, perfect schools for their children, and a perfect charity to salvage the lives of needy children in perpetuity. Along the way, he overcame his personal childhood traumas, as well as the death, after a short and intensely romantic marriage, of the one woman he ever loved.—From publisher description.