Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer

Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer

by William Knoedelseder, 416 pgs.

Knoedelseder tells the history of the Anheuser-Busch family, and the scandal that follows five generations of the “kings of beer”.  Formerly an investigative reporter, Knoedelseder is very good at weaving a story that is both fascinating and informative -- an impressive feat for such a dense collection of historical accounts.   When you boil their story down, the A-B family is not so different from the rest of us.  They just have more money, guns, and exotic animals.