Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain

by Liam Byrne

Britain's rise to global dominance from the 16th century owed as much to the vision and creativity of traders, industrialists and bankers as it did to wars of conquest fought by military men. DRAGONS tells the story of British business endeavour through the lives of ten titans of commerce. Beginning with the Tudor merchants who transformed England's economy via trade with the New World, Liam Byrne traces an entrepreneurial golden line through men such as Thomas Pitt, saviour of the East India Company; financier Nathan Rothschild, creator of the modern bond market; William Lever, brand-builder, philanthropist, and creator of Britain's first great multinational; and John Spedan Lewis, founder of the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership. At the start of the 21st century Britain remains a major economic power. DRAGONS is both a rousing celebration of British business genius and a fascinatingly informative narrative of a neglected but essential strand of our island's story.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

545 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Dhiran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragons : Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain by Liam Byrne. Interesting profiling and stories from the colonial age to the modern age. Mapping the events of birth of commerce through fair trade or colonisation thanks to the race to sail away and discover new lands, to the modern day enterprises that were built on strong foundations of good fundamentals, ethics and value creation for many, not just the self. Liam’s five key notes at the end are validating and inspiring too. #BookLovers #LoveToRead #dntjbookclub #atozentrepreneurship

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the book covers 10 people each biography has to be quite condensed. This means the author has to assume knowledge on your part. I found the biographies from periods of history I knew about much better than the other. A lot of the actual business information was also unclear. Someone with a business background might get more from the book.