The Road to Woodstock by Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren. Harper Collins Books, New York:2009. August 15th, 1969 was a life changing event for the counter-cultural world: the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Unique and unlike any other festival, it embodied the essence of the anti- establishment movement: a peaceful coming together of the youth who rejected materialism and American involvement in the Vietnam war. Michael Lang, a native of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, initiated the idea of the festival, and eventually collaborated with`Artie Kornfield, a songwriter, to form Woodstock Ventures with two other partners. The haphazard planning, financial problems, issues with the Rock Groups, and first hand accounts by those involved in the festival bring to light the behind-the-scenes details of this great cultural event of the 60's. This book will bring back intense recollections for members of the Woodstock Nation and an enraptured insight for those readers who want to more fully understand the complexity and significance of this generational marker. Michael Lang has produced other rock festivals, including the concert at the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Woodstock 1994, and Woodstock 1999. Holly George Warren is an award winning author toe many books including The Grateful Dead 365, and the co-editor of The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll

Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, New York: 2006. The author's grandfather, Ben, was the founder of the company which developed Sweet and Low, formerly the world's most popular artificial sweetener. However, the author's mother, Ellen, and her children were disinherited from the family fortune after the death of her father. This is a tale of a tainted family dynamic, corrupted by a meteoric rise to success. Denial, mob connections, mental illness, and primogeniture play a role in this American tragi-comedy. Sweet and Low will have a poignant familiarity to readers who have tangled family connections. The author has written Tough Jews, The Avengers, The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock N' Roll, and Lake Effect a memoir. His work has appeared Vanity Fair andThe New Yorker. He is also a contributing editor to Rolling Stone Magazine.

Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two  by Jim Koch. Flatiron Books: 2016. Home brewing became legal in the United States in 1978 and led to the birth of the craft beer revolution. Jim Koch, the founder of the Boston Beer Company, grew up in a family of professional brewers, including his father and Grandfather. Eventually, a family recipe for a German style lager was shown to Jim and he started home brewing. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, he was able to brew a beer unlike any other commercially available in the U.S. His friends greatly enjoyed his home brew and Jim eventually decided to brew commercially.

At the time of his momentous decision, Jim was working for Bain Capital with an excellent well-paying position. Nevertheless, he needed to set forth on his ambition to brew professionally. Both bars and distributors were skeptical at first. Budweiser and Miller were the top selling beers in the United States and the average beer drinker had no tasting experience with better crafted beer.  The road was success was difficult. Jim's no-nonsense business acumen enabled him to surmount all marketing obstacles and build a successful craft brewing business. The reader will find this book fascinating on different levels. Jim's business acumen is revelatory, reminiscent  of what was known as "good old American know-how." He often would find less expensive solutions to problems, and realized that one cannot "throw money at a problem." This belief resonates throughout the book.  Jim was always willing to learn from his mistakes- there were quite a few outlined in the book- and move on.

Jim Koch is one of the founding fathers of the American craft beer movement which continues to greatly influence craft brewing globally. The book is written in a clear, easy flowing style. A wonderful book about an American  craft brewing pioneer whose success led to the birth of the craft beer in the United States which eventually grew globally.

Richistan A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich by Robert Frank. Crown Publishers, New York:2007. In the last thirty years, the American economy has given birth to a new class of wealthy citizens who rose to riches as entrepreneurs, internet innovators, real estate investors, and stock market wizards. The "new" wealthy have supplanted "old money" families, who were less showy about their wealth, public service oriented, many living on proceeds from their trust funds. The new rich inhabit another America: Richistan. It is not only a land of privilege, but enormous wealth, ostentatiousness, one-upmanship, and unlike the old rich- Richistanis continue to work. Their lifestyles are engulfed by the American drive to consume, displayed in oversized yachts, palatial mansions, lavish parties, and minions of servants who organize their wealthy lifestyle. Despite their economic status, the denizens of Richistan are plagued by divorce, family problems, and a sense of restlessness propelled by their desire to outdo other Richistanis. The reader glimpses into the window of a world which is indeed separate from the rest of America: exclusive schools, private clubs, oversized housing, and expensive leisure activities. Although some of the profiled Richistanis are developing programs for the betterment of society, including forays into politics, the message is clear- there are two classes emerging in American society: the Richistanis and the rest of the struggling majority. This situation could possibly be addressed by revamping the tax system and the Democratic party legislating reform favoring the majority of voters. There will be no demise of this growing class in the near future. The author is a senior writer at the Wall Street Journal where he writes for a daily blog The Wealth Report.He was part of the team that won an Overseas Press Club Award in 1998 for its coverage of developing economies.

Welcome to the Homeland A Journey to the Rural Heart of America's Conservative Revolution by Brian Mann.Steerforth Press Hanover, New Hampshire: 2006. This book explores the American cultural and political divide between urban "metros" and rural "homelanders". The author traveled in rural America, interviewing typical homelanders, who express their frank opinions about the politics and cultural values of the urban majority. The political savvy of homeland grassroots organizations is brought to light. This book will especially interest readers who want to reexamine the recent shuffling of Congressional power and changes in the contemporary Republican power base. The author has covered rural America for twenty years working in public radio. His award winning stories have appeared on Npr's Morning Edition, and All Things Considered Brian Mann's website has excerpts and more information about this book.

More Money Than God:Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul   by Rabbi Steven Leder. Bonus Books, Chicago and New York: 2003. The Rabbi of an affluent congregation in Los Angeles has written about the role of material pursuit in our daily lives. He urges us to place acquisitiveness in proper perspective: satisfaction and inner peace do not come from wealth- more important goals such family harmony and friendship bring greater fulfillment in life. Anecdotes and real life stories illustrate Rabbi Leder's philosophy. This is a rewarding book with an appeal to a broad spectrum of individuals. Rabbi Leder serves a senior Rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. He is the author of The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things, and has appeared on ABC's Politically Incorrect and has made several commentaries on National Public Radio

Why Sinatra Matters by Pete Hamill. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. An absorbing account of the legendary singer, and a realistic probing into his international appeal which lasted for a half century. The author became friendly with Frank Sinatra in the later years of the singers life, and was able to piece together a raison d'etre of the man behind the story from the many anecdotes which the "Old Blue Eyes" recounted in their drinking chats. The author contends that Sinatra's psychological makeup was molded by his urban upbringing in New Jersey between the World Wars. His parents, a gregarious politically active mother, and a silent, ex-boxer father bred the seeds for the distinct personality of this man- an outspoken, brooding, extroverted individual imbued with ironic lonliness. The vicissitudes of Sinatra's career, starting as a crooner appealing to young women and renown in later years as the "Chairman of the Board, make this short yet fascinating book a favorite for anyone delving into the history of American show business. 

Donnie Brasco My Underground Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone with Richard Woodley. New American Library New York 1987. The current film, Donnie Brasco has rekindled a renewed interest in this book. An FBI agent, Joseph Pistone, goes undercover and eventually infiltrates the mafia at very high levels. He spends six years at this operation and his true identity is known to only a few trusted law enforcement individuals. We get a realistic glimpse at the life of the average mobster- it is not like the mob depicted in The Godfather. The success of this FBI operation resulted in the conviction of important mafia figures. 

Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of life in the Mafia by Peter Maas. New York : HarperCollins Pub., c1997. The story of a leading organized crime figure in the New York Columbo family. Sammy"The Bull" Gravano tells us about his upbringing in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn and his rise to power as an underboss to John Gotti, Don of the Columbo family. Sammy's "no bones" style, as told to Peter Maas, is full of anecdotes about the New York mob and the "life", as he refers to it. Eventually, Sammy's disenchantment with the Mafia results in his becoming a chief witness for the Federal government in the major underworld crime trials of the 1990s. This lead to the incarceration and conviction of many important underworld figures. Read Joseph Pistone's Donnie Brasco first for background and comparison.