Customer Reviews

Alfred I. Du Pont: The Man and His Family

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first intimidating because of its length, you will find yourself fascinated by this bio! In fact, it's worth running the risk of dropping the heavy volume on yourself as you struggle to stay awake reading it late into the night like I did. The time period covered extends from the French Revolution through our Depression and all the genuinely remarkable DuPonts during those generations. Wall's research is impressive. Living in Jacksonville, FL, site of Epping Forest, I was especially interested in "A.I" and also Jessie Ball, his last wife. A.I.'s story does not really end with his death (in 1935 if memory serves), because Jessie carried on his wishes until her death in 1970.
Oh, and it was the Port St. JOE Paper Company, not Jones (as mentioned by my fellow reviewer who was quite puzzling to me not much impressed with this book). I'm a voracious reader since age 4 (now 51) and biography is my favorite category of books - there are several bios on the DuPonts, but THIS ONE IS biography at its very best!

As a very frequent reader of biographies, this book was a pleasant surprise. Not knowing much about the DuPont family I was impressed with the character and integrity of Alfred DuPont, a man who was deeply committed to equality of all people. He was a true renaissance man who shared his fortune with people who struggled financially. The author captured the times of the era as well as the social, economic, and political values of early 20th century. The book easily deserves a five star rating!!!

This is a sometimes fascinating study of the personality that helped create one of our country's leading industrial dynamos, the DuPont Company.

Alfred I, the subject of this book, was the "working" cousin among the three (A.I., Pierre, and T. Coleman) who audaciously bought control of the company from their uncles at the turn of the Twentieth Century. A.I. ran the operations that made DuPont gunpowder the powder of choice for the country. T.C. ran the executive offices while Pierre was the financial brains of the operation. Together they took a reasonably prosperous family gunpowder company and built it into one of the behemoths of industrial America. They were a resounding success.

This book provides and interesting portrait of the entreprenurial spark it took to make that transformation. A.I. and his cousins were outstanding businessmen. Wall also writes of A.I.'s difficult relationship with his family and Wilmington society (often one and the same), his scandelous marriage, the construction of his fortress home (with a broken glass topped wall that legend holds A.I. had constructed to keep his family out) that is now the DuPont Children's Hospital.

I found the book less interesting when it followed A.I. out of the DuPont company to Florida where he established wealth anew, including the St. Jones Paper company. The writing was dry and pedantic in parts, but overall an interesting story of a fascinating business leader.

Was told that this book would be hard to locate. Found the book and it was in mint condition