Crazy Rich is the story of the highly
dysfunctional Johnson family, the ones who brought you the band-aid,
Modess, and Johnson's Baby Powder along with other medical
innovations like sterile surgical dressings. While the book tells the
tales of the many Johnson problems: multiple divorces, drug
addiction, and alcoholism to name a few; the focus is on Woody
Johnson, a member of the third generation, who found an identity
apart from the family as the owner of the Jets and major bundler for
the GOP.
Although the focus is on Woody, the
book begins and ends with him plus an internal chapter, Woody's
Secrets, recounts his accident prone adolescence, there are plenty of
tales of the rest of the family, from Robert Wood Johnson, the
General, who forced all his family members out of the company to
maintain personal control to his brother Seward, Sr. who in his old
age married his chambermaid, Basia, and left her his millions much to
the chagrin of his children. The court battle that resulted
titillated Princeton when I lived there.
I recommend this book. It has many
outlandish tales of Johnson escapades, primarily dysfunctional
marriages and bitter divorces, but it also tells the story of a
family who revolutionized health care. The three brothers of the
first generation were very good business men, ready to capitalize on
a good idea. Robert Wood Johnson in the second generation kept the
company together with an iron hand. Perhaps this is what the company
needed. The family needed to branch out into other pursuits, but
generally were unsuccessful in doing so. This is what makes Woody
Johnson's story the most interesting in the third generation.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
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