The Best Business History Books

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List

2008 Edition: Revised and Updated

Top MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List features only the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

About This Supplemental Category:

These books have been included to give you context: a broad understanding of business as a discipline and how business practice has evolved over time. History selections aren't as critical as the books in other sections, but they'll really help you develop depth in your understanding of business and the role of business in society. My personal approach to these books is serendipitous: instead of reading them from cover-to-cover, I'll regularly pick up a book and read a random section, learning something new each day. Enjoy!

Money and Power: The History of Business by Howard Means

It's easy to forget that, historically speaking, the current role of business in society is a relatively recent phenomenon. Based on a CNBC documentary by David Grubin, Money and Power: The History of Business traces the development of modern business from its roots in Medieval Europe all the way to the dawn of the Information Age.

Along the way, you'll follow the careers of some of history's greatest (and worst) businessmen: St. Godric, Cosimo de’ Medici, Phillip II of Spain, the merchants behind Tulipmania, James Watt and Matthew Boulton, the shareholders of the American Transcontinental Railroad, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Robert W. Woodruff, the staff behind the merger of Time Warner, and Bill Gates.

Money and Power is the most concise yet comprehensive history of modern business currently available. With engaging storytelling and a fantastic sense of relevant detail, this entertaining and informative history will give you a very good sense of how the business world came to be how it is now.

Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumer’s Trust from Wedgewood to Dell by Nancy F. Koehn

Consumer brands like Starbucks, Heinz, and Dell are such fixtures of modern life that it's easy to forget that product branding is still a relatively new phenomenon. This book will show you how these brands developed.

Brand New tells the story of six entrepreneurs who built national brands that changed the world of business: Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz, and Michael Dell.

By examining the companies these innovators created alongside the business and social environment in which they worked, Nancy Koehn presents six detailed, fascinating case studies of how these entrepreneurs developed brands and distribution systems that took full advantage of major changes in the marketplace.

Comprehensive without being dry, Brand New is a very detailed look into the lives of six unique people who saw an opportunity and worked tirelessly to make their visions a reality.

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days by Jessica Livingston

If you're considering starting a startup, it's wise to take some time to learn from those who have gone before.

Founders at Work is the closest thing that exists to a comprehensive history of technology-fueled entrepreneurial revolution of the 1980s and 1990s.

Using an easy-to-read interview format, you'll listen as Livingston interviews the founders of companies like 37signals, Adobe, Alliant Computer, Apple, ArsDigita, Blogger, Bloglines, Craigslist, Del.icio.us, Excite, Firefox, Flickr, Fog Creek Software, Google, Groove Networks, Hotmail, Hot or Not, Lotus, Lycos, Marimba, Paypal, Research in Motion, Six Apart, Software Arts, Tickle, TiVo, TripAdvisor, Viaweb, WebTV, and Yahoo.

The most striking thing about these interviews, aside from sheer amount of useful advice and perspective they provide, is how honest and frank the interviewees are. The entrepreneurs Livingston interviews aren't shy about discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of life in a startup, and you'll benefit from what they've learned in the process of creating their businesses.

Even if technology's not your cup of tea, Founders at Work is required reading if you're considering starting a business.

Citizen Marketers by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba

In the olden days (i.e. everything before 1995), marketing was relatively straightforward. Brand managers largely controlled their marketing message: by creating national TV spots, designing magazine ads, working the press, and holding high-profile events, they wielded almost total control over their product's public image.

No more: the internet has shifted marketing power to the people. Citizen Marketers is simultaneously a history of the development of social media and a primer on how to benefit from active participation in the new online marketplace.

One of the critical insights here is that you can no longer control the message: your customers have just as much influence over your image and reputation as you do. If you meet your customer's needs and exceed their expectations, you'll be publicly lauded. If you treat them poorly or deceive them, expect a harsh and public rebuke.

You'll learn about the four main types of "citizen marketers": Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators, and Firecrackers, which are useful archetypes for thinking about the value people create online. By way of example, the Personal MBA has elements of all four archetypes: I'm a Filter for the best business books, a Fanatic about the value of self-education, a Facilitator of discussion via the PMBA Member Forums, and the PMBA Manifesto is a Firecracker that's designed to attract massive amounts of attention very, very quickly.

Social media and user-generated content is still in its infancy and will change dramatically over time, but Citizen Marketers will bring you up to speed on the current state of marketing and the role of consumers in shaping public perception of products and services.

The Books of Business Wisdom Series by Peter Krass

What would you give to have hundreds of successful business leaders tell you everything they've learned from their experiences? Peter Krass has compiled hundreds of essays written by some of the best minds in business, past and present, and you can read them all in these wonderful books.

Each volume contains over 50 essays by some of the best-known and well-respected people in business. This is a collection of essays, not a narrative, so you'll learn directly from legendary professionals like Lee Iacocca, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Lillian Vernon, Charles Schwab, Mary Kay Ash, Sam Walton, B.C. Forbes, and Benjamin Franklin.

This is not a "how-to" series: it's an opportunity to learn how others have have accomplished their goals and overcome significant challenges. Pick whichever topic you're most interested in and read a few essays each day. You’ll think about business differently after hearing from these legends in their own words.

(Tip: to purchase one of these titles, click on the picture of the book.)