Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty

Rating:
Summary: Coors Family's Personal and BusinessTraumas
Review: "Citizen Coors" is a book written about the ups and downs of the Coors family, in both the business and personal arenas. Founded by Adolph Coors, a Prussian stowaway to America, the Coors Company has been in existance now for more than 100 years and during that time, it has often found itself thrust into the spotlight over problems with employees, political involvement, and family crises and disputes.

Author Dan Baum spends a little bit of time talking about the foundation of the company, then he heads directly into the 20th century, discussing at length the Coor's family members (Bill, Joe, Adolph II, Adolph III, Peter, Joe, and others) and their various business philosophies and personal lives. As most people know, the Coors family has always had problems with organized labor, and the company has been the target of strikes and boycotts by various pro- labor and ethnic groups. Accused of being anti- labor, anti- gay, sexist, and racist, the Coors Company has been forced to face a never- ending onslaught of criticism from various civil and political groups. Author Dan Baum covers many of these important issues thoroughly, while managing to leave out his own opinions, allowing the reader to digest the information and make his/her own decision.

Reading a book like will make some people a little bit annoyed at the Coors family and its beliefs. The labor problems are one thing, but there are other issues that the author covers which are just as controversial. For example, it is known that Coors was very slow to accept the changes in the marketplace in the 1970's, when the other big brewers, Miller and Anheuser- Busch, were both switching to a brand marketing emphasis. Coors could visibly see the changes, but refused to make any moves until it was almost too late. Bill Coors, in particular, is incredibly rigid, refusing to even consider producing and selling a light beer, even though other family members and marketing experts all warn him that change is necessary if the Coors Company has any hope to survive.

The book ends by talking about the modern era. Coors is still around, but the boycotts and other problems have taken a toll. The company is no longer family run, like it was in the past. Now, Coors is directed by professionals who have managed to expand the product line, allocate more money toward marketing and sales, and have rescued the company from bankruptcy.

"Citizen Coors" is a very good read. It has its share of tragedy (Adolph Coors I and great- granddaughter Missy both committed suicide and Adolph III was murdered) but it also has its share of success. Coors is credited for inventing the aluminum can and for encouraging recycling on a massive scale. Above all, though, "Citizen Coors" shows the importance of accepting change. If Coors had acted more quickly, it could possibly be a much larger brewer than it is today, rivaling A-B for the top spot in the industry. A little more flexibility and open- mindedness could have worked wonders.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful
Review: Baum does not go easy on the Coors family, but I also found Citizen Coors sympathetic and very touching, with frank discussion of the family culture and their very human conflicts, weaknesses, and strengths. Stubbornly, and honorably, they stuck to their belief that if they made excellent beer, people would buy it with or without advertising. They finally succumbed to the need for expensive advertising campaigns in the face of market share wars that erupted when Phillip Morris bought Miller Brewing Company and applied sophisticated tobacco marketing strategies to beer.

At times, the book portrays some Coors as very much bewildered, as when Bill Coors innocently suggested at an employee meeting that citizen's votes should count in proportion to how much each person pays in taxes. But when it came to engineering, in which most of the family members were trained, Bill Coors was creative and determined in the successful effort to develop the aluminum can, and an aluminum can recycling program.

The Coors, and the companies they control, have expended enormous resources for the causes in which they believe, which included development of the aluminum can, and a tab that did not leave a separated ring, so prone to becoming a separate piece of litter. They also were willing to spend millions and suffer economic and public relations losses to fight for their conservative political and religious ideals. Many (but not all) of the family members have a born-again or fundamentalist Christian faith, and there is an uncomfortable conflict between their morals and the manufacture and marketing of beer.

Sometimes they implemented their ideals about private sector action, in place of government programs. As Business Week pointed out in its review of the book, Coors "recruited urban unemployables right out of prison", because they wanted to give them a chance to become productive members of society. In another situation they did not act so responsibly. When they discovered that chlorinated organic solvents from aluminum can manufacturing had gotten into the groundwater, they decided not to report it as required by law, and secretly pumped the water into Clear Creek for ten years, before finally getting caught.

To maintain their absolutist view of property rights, including the right to run their brewery any way they saw fit; they waged battles with labor unions, hurting Coors' image with some of its consumers. Property rights also seemed to be the basis of their 1960's opposition to civil rights laws. Baum asserts that it was the Coors' repugnance about having government inspectors coming onto their property and reviewing their records, more than the cleanup costs, that motivated them to not report the groundwater contamination.

The history of the Coors family and Golden are very much entwined, so those interested in local Golden history will enjoy the book. Many Golden residents personally know various people in the book. Ruben Hartmeister's work with Bill Coors to develop the aluminum can is excitingly recounted. There is an astonishing story about Leo Bradley and Coors setting up private drug stings, and expanding the operations to downtown Golden to Shotgun Annie's (now The Buffalo Rose). Meanwhile its owner, whose business was put at considerable risk, was also a client of the Bradley law firm, and was therefor owed a duty of loyalty by the firm. But he was kept in the dark about the drug sting operations, set up on his property.

With Thanks to historian Rick Gardner regarding the new name for Shotgun Annie's

Hint: As I read the book, I found it very helpful to sketch a family tree.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Portrait
Review: Considering that the author was unable to obtain many direct interviews with the principal family members, "Citizen Coors" is nonethless quite comprehensive. If you read Philip Van Munching's "Beer Blast", which provided a history of the US beer industry since Prohibition, you have an idea of how this book reads (a chronological narrative) . I was struck by how the family stayed by its principles, even knowing they were no longer applicable. When Anheuser-Busch was going through a strike Coors top management ordered its sales force not to exploit the situation, certain that August Busch III would later return the favor. (He didn't). More than the politics involved, their naivete in a world that had changed beyond recognition is striking. If something had worked for their grandfather in the 1800's, why wouldn't it work now? Mr. Baum appeared on the C-SPAN show "Booknotes" and was asked at the end "Is there a moral to the story"? He replied that the changes that they failed to adapt to ultimately ended family control of the company. Hardly the first organization to learn this, yet still a compelling read. If you like a good human interest story, coupled with a look at business in general (and can't resist a good look at the beer industry in particular), "Citizen Coors" is an excellent choice.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Portrait
Review: Considering that the author was unable to obtain many direct interviews with the principal family members, "Citizen Coors" is nonethless quite comprehensive. If you read Philip Van Munching's "Beer Blast", which provided a history of the US beer industry since Prohibition, you have an idea of how this book reads (a chronological narrative) . I was struck by how the family stayed by its principles, even knowing they were no longer applicable. When Anheuser-Busch was going through a strike Coors top management ordered its sales force not to exploit the situation, certain that August Busch III would later return the favor. (He didn't). More than the politics involved, their naivete in a world that had changed beyond recognition is striking. If something had worked for their grandfather in the 1800's, why wouldn't it work now? Mr. Baum appeared on the C-SPAN show "Booknotes" and was asked at the end "Is there a moral to the story"? He replied that the changes that they failed to adapt to ultimately ended family control of the company. Hardly the first organization to learn this, yet still a compelling read. If you like a good human interest story, coupled with a look at business in general (and can't resist a good look at the beer industry in particular), "Citizen Coors" is an excellent choice.

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Compelling
Review: I thought that Citizen Coors is one of the most confusing books that I ever read. There was no structure in the book. The author would touch on several subjects, none which were related to the other, in each chapter. He was always switching topics, before he concluded with the present one. Therefore, it was very hard to get a "feel" for how the Coors family operates. Several years ago I read the biograhpy on the Busch Family titled "Under the Infuluence" and thought it was an excellent book. I was hoping the Citizen Coors would be as good, but was very disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty
Review: I thought the book was outstanding. It was historical, personal, tragic, economic, political and ideological. It also included incredible lessons for the business world. I have been and will continue to recommend this book to others.

Rating:
Summary: Destined to be a Classic
Review: Not all newspaper reporters can write and not all writers are good newspaper reporters. However, every once in a while someone comes along that can do both, sometimes exceptionally well. Such a person is Dan Baum, formerly a reporter for both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of the highly acclaimed Smoke and Mirrors,an explosive account of the so-called war on drugs, and this marvelous work on a Colorado company that many people love to hate. This book, an historical narrative of the Adolph Coors Company, a family and business legend in America, is destined to be a classic and will be the standard by which all other efforts are judged. It provides a real eye-opening insight into the corporate world of politics, sex, religion, money, drugs, cover-ups and environmental degradation that will stay with you long after you have finished the book. Its all here. The story of Adolph Coors, the immigrant that made a fortune against all odds and left a legacy that some say still haunts the company to this day. Baum notes that "Even though Adolph Coors died in 1929, he was still effectively running the company more than sixty years later." The results of a 1929 business philosophy on a national company in 1999 will leave you astounded. There is a well written overview of the Political Left and the American Labor movements protracted boycott of Coors as well as the rise of the conservative movement and the founding of the Heritage Foundation. The prominent role of the Coors family in the success of the Reagan revolution, and its impact on the company, is riveting and revealing. The Coors family were brilliant engineers that invented the aluminum beverage can; made what many beer connoisseurs believed to be an excellent product; refused to incur debt; and became rich by demanding a quality product, often at the expense of profit. At the same time, the results of their refusal to employ modern marketing techniques and compete with the likes of Miller's Brewing and Budweiser is absolutely amazing. The story of the Coors family and company is complex and at times maddening. Regardless of your political persuasion; liberal, conservative, or independent, this book will give you something to cheer about and will keep you up late at night turning pages. It is highly readable, meticulously researched and a welcome addition to the history of business in America, not to mention the political implications. It is a spellbinding story of a Colorado company with truly national ramifications. That it is written by a writer of the caliber of Dan Baum is a real bonus for the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Drink Coors
Review: There's nothing more compelling than a nonfiction saga that is sculpted to flow like a classic piece of fiction. As a story, this book by Dan Baum has all the ingredients of the great potboilers: Early struggles of the dynamic immigrant in the Wild West of the 19th Century, who ultimately creates a wildly successful company, the first son who carries on in the manner of his father yet bends a bit to accomodate the 20th Century, followed by a mass of problems created by the third and fourth generations. Business, politics, sex (well, adultery), tragedy, and a staggering amount of mistakes by one gene pool make this book a fabulous read. It arrived at my door on a Saturday, by Sunday morning I was ordering Baum's previous book!

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Compelling
Review: Two of my neighbors read this book and told me, repeatedly, that I'd love it. They said they'd both finished it in two days. Finally they gave it to me for my birthday--and I spent my birthday (and most of the following night) reading it. I finished it in even less time than they did--and me, a fiction reader!

The Coors family saga is fascinating. It's a classic American success story, with elements straight out of a Greek tragedy. The very qualities that made the family succeed so well for the first hundred years--attention to product quality and family concepts of integrity--nearly destroyed them in the last twenty-five.

I can't agree with the earlier reviewer, who commented that the book was poorly organized. I thought the author did a great job of interweaving story lines, so I understood what all of the players were doing during a given period of time.

I thought the author also did a good job of remaining unbiased. He may have had "Eastern Establishment" leanings, as one of the other reviewers commented, but I thought he painted the Coors family members in a reasonably sympathetic light. He certainly helps you understand how people with their family background--immigrant founder who built the business from scratch--would have developed some of the attitudes they hold (or held).

My only problem with the book was that the anecdotes were so fascinating that I was compelled to read long sections to my husband--even though he fully intended to read the book himself as soon as I finished it.

I highly recommend this book!