Customer Reviews

GOD'S CAPITALIST: ASA CANDLER

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From a review by Ned L. Irwin in Tennessee Historical Quarterly:
"For so prominent a figure, Candler has been the subject of only one previous biography written by his son Charles Howard Candler and published in 1950. While lacking the personal insights of the son's book, Kemp's work sets Asa Candler's life in the broader context of his time and gives us a more critical and balanced view of the man, especially of the last sad decade of Candler's life when he lost his beloved wife, had his children sell the Coca-Cola Company out from under him, experienced two scandalous romances with younger women and suffered a stroke that left him in a coma for the last three years of his life. His son's book passes only lightly over these last sad years. Kemp has produced a significant account of a significant Southern and national business leader that has been long overdue."

An all-'round excellent biography of an important figure in Atlanta and the New South. More importantly - and teachers, take note - this book is terrific for history classes. The author places Asa Candler, founder of Coca-Cola, in context of his times, and so, students also can learn about the Reconstruction era or the Roaring '20s, for instance, while reading about Candler's life. Upper-level high school students could handle the text, but college students and plain old adults wouldn't find the text "too easy." I'm assigning it to all my students.