Welcome to Peter Krass Online, Author of books such as Carnegie, The Life and Times of Jack Daniels and Portrait Of War
Peter Krass Online
Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel
by Peter Krass
In the first ever biography of the man who created America's most famous whiskey, Peter Krass uncovers the legend of Jack Daniel. BLOOD & WHISKEY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JACK DANIEL (Wiley; Shipping April 23; $24.95 Cloth) is a compelling exploration into the life of the Tennessee whiskey baron and marketing genius. While forced to resort to moonshining in the desperate years after the Civil War, Jack went on to win the Gold Medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair with his Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. Today, Jack Daniel's remains a powerful brand with worldwide recognition.
Through painstaking research, Krass not only depicts the charismatic distiller with a penchant for diamonds and young ladies, but definitively answers a mystifying question that has plagued whiskey raconteurs and the Jack Daniel Distillery company alike: Why did Jack call his whiskey Old No. 7? Krass also unravels other mysteries, such as when Jack actually established his distillery. It was not in 1866 nor the first in Tennessee to be registered with the Federal government as the company claims today.
Born and raised in Lynchburg, Tennessee, Jack (1849-1911) lost his mother shortly after his birth and then his father during the Civil War. Orphaned at age 14, he ran away from his mean-tempered stepmother and found refuge with a local lay minister who also happened to distill whiskey, an interesting mix of spirits. After learning all he could about distilling, Jack struck out on his own. It was an uphill battle as he fought against domineering competitors, crusaders for prohibition, and corrupt government officials in the tumultuous South.
Krass captures the drama of the times – rampant political corruption, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and the travails of rural small town life – as BLOOD & WHISKEY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JACK DANIEL tantalizes the reader with the colorful history of a man who tasted every batch of whiskey until retirement in 1907. Borrowing a page from flamboyant P. T. Barnum, Jack was an innovative marketer, who always sported his signature outfit – linen shirt, silk vest, bowtie, knee length frock coat, and high rolled planter's hat – and used balloon launches, square bottles, and stunts like sending a keg of whiskey to Queen Victoria to promote his whiskey.
Krass has published eight previous books, including CARNEGIE, a biography of ruthless tycoon and pioneering philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. CARNEGIE was cited by Barron's as the "definitive" Andrew Carnegie biography and "a detailed, convincing portrait of a maniacal empire-builder." Krass is currently working on an American adventure into World War I. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and children.
Peter Krass
Peter Krass is an accomplished and prolific author, editor, and researcher. He has written and edited 9 books, including two biographies. His most recent book is Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, to be published in May 2004; this is the first ever biography of the flamboyant boy moonshiner who became a whiskey baron in the tumultuous post-Civil War South. He is currently working on an American adventure into World War I.
Krass' first biography was Carnegie, published in 2002: it made the bestseller's list in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Denver and was selected as one of the best biography/business books for 2002. It was also reviewed widely, in Barron's, the Economist, the Washington Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Tribune-Review, the Dallas Morning News, the London Times, and The Scotsman, among many other newspapers and magazines. Barron's cited the book as "the definitive Andrew Carnegiea superb new accountBy digging into documents not weighed by previous biographers, Krass paints a detailed, convincing portrait of a maniacal empire-builder."
In addition to his biography work, Krass was the creator of a highly successful series of books on business wisdom, which have sold almost 100,000 copies in English alone: The Book of Business Wisdom, The Book of Leadership Wisdom, The Book of Investing Wisdom, The Book of Entrepreneurs' Wisdom, The Book of Management Wisdom, and The Little Book of Business Wisdom. These books were endorsed by such industry leaders as Warren Bennis, the CEOs of NBC and Merrill Lynch, and renowned investor Roy Neuberger, among others. Several books in the series have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese.
Krass also edited a collection of business essays for The Conference Board, the world's leading business research organization and executive forum: the book is The Conference Board Challenge to Business: Industry Leaders Speak Their Minds, and it includes essays and writings by such business leaders as Warren Buffett, Peter Drucker, Andy Grove, Richard Branson, and Katherine Graham. In addition, he has written for Investor's Business Daily, profiling past and present business leaders, and Across the Board, which included a cover article detailing the mega-merger craze of the latter 1990s.
Krass has appeared on C-Span's Booknotes and New York City Public Radio, among many other television and radio programs. He also served as script consultant for a BBC Scotland television program on Andrew Carnegie that aired in the winter of 2002-2003.
As a lecturer, Krass is in high demand from both civic and business organizations. He has spoken at numerous libraries, museums, and historical societies; was a featured speaker for the venerable Conference Board; and delivered a keynote address at the Friends of the Library USA event at the 2003 American Library Association conference in Toronto. A graduate of Lafayette College and Seton Hall University, Krass lives with his family in Hanover, New Hampshire.
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