This book depicts the progress of one family from rags to riches. A rather stereotypical presentation of how wealth and power can be a dangerous combination. The history of the families involved with the Johnson&Johnson empire is fascinating and at times appalling. The stories of the entangled families are from where soap operas evolve. It is a blatant reminder that money does not buy happiness. ( )

Just like a soap opera, but less believable! That's the history of the Johnson family. I really enjoyed the book, but it is sometimes hard to follow because it skips around a bit and it is tough keeping all the characters (and I stress the word characters) straight. It could use a family tree (including nicknames). By the way, this isn't just any Johnson family. This is the family that brings us Bandaids and many other healthcare products. Affairs, divorces, drugs, accidents, mental illness... This dysfunctional family has quite a history!

I received this book free from Netgallery. ( )

Not particularly well-written but reading it is sort of like eating potato chips. You just want to read a little more. ( )

Not a bad book, but one of those where after I slogged through it wondered why I had wanted to read it in the first place. Picking it up from the catchy title and finding myself caught up in a never ending tabloid presentation on the dysfunction of a typical family. Or as in this case with the added dimension of unlimited wealth. The book was thrown together somewhat sloppily like a tabloid with a few photos thrown in to spice it up. But even the pictures were limited. There were also a number of errors in the book showing the author was not aware of some basic historical and geographical facts. The one lesson that comes out of it all and one most of us are aware of is that super wealth can mess up generations. ( )

"They are a mixed-up, weird bunch, and always have been," he came to believe. "You couldn't make them up in fiction. They are dysfunctional and just don't know how to live a normal life. The whole family is like a great big spiderweb that innocent people would drop into - normal people who get caught in the Johnson web of Craziness. There were the three brothers who started Johnson and Johnson, and they were smart. By the time they got down to Seward's generation this was a pretty pathetic bunch. It's almost like European royalty."

Well, they are not like any European royalty I have read about, but probably because even with the constant name-dropping Oppenheimer does to show just how connected the Johnson & Johnson family clan are with America's Who's Who in money and in politics, I lost interest in this one pretty fast. After reaching the 200 page mark and only seeing more same-old, same-old (this family really is a stuck record of broken marriages, drinking, drugs, extravagance, conniving, weirdness and tragedy) I pretty much skim read the remaining 252 pages.

What did I glean from this one? That Robert Wood Johnson, the founder of the company that we all now know as Johnson & Johnson, and his two brothers, were sharp entrepreneurs - a little too sharp for my tastes, especially when they hoodwinked Clara Barton to give them exclusive rights to use her iconic Red Cross symbol in exchange for one dollar - and that no family member has been involved in the running of Johnson & Johnson in any substantial way since "the General", Robert's son, died in 1968. The family members with any smarts went to great pains to distance themselves from the clan and find their own paths in business, the arts and whatever else they could find, usually starting out with trust fund money set aside for them. This distance between the business and the family that created it is, IMO, the reason the company continues to be a success today.

While this probably is a good and well researched expose biography, I was hoping to read more about the company, its earlier product lines and its success story. If you are looking for that kind of a read, you will have to look elsewhere. At least three of the four Robert Wood Johnson's - Yup, four generations with the same flipping name! - went by nicknames "the General;", "Bobby" and "Woody" to make the story, which jumps around a fair bit, less confusing to read, but it is still a really long read about a lot of people that I really started to like less and less as I continued reading. I found myself willing to put the book down to engage in otherwise mundane choirs like wash the kitchen floor and clean the bathroom, that is how boring this book finally became for me.

Some dynasties reclaim their original glory, others become or remain notorious and some, with time, eventually fade away from memory. Regardless of whatever happens to the Johnson dynasty, I don't think they will ever regain the spark that three brothers ignited to create Johnson & Johnson.

This book may appear more to readers that like to read the gossip of a rich family or has a greater interest in some of the various players, political and otherwise, that are mentioned in this one... it just didn't do it for me. ( )