Steinway and Sons

I really enjoyed reading this well researched and written book. It clearly details the family's long-term struggles of running a company with a highly focused goal of creating the world's best piano. I finished the book with a greater appreciation of my Steinway.

The biography of an American companies family and its resources. Highlights the ebb and flow of this wonderful 6 generations of Steinway Giants who made the greatest piano bar none. From the curve of the standard ground to research development to make the best better every moment.

This was a very interesting book. Very informative. It contained a lot of information germain to running a business, but it was never dry and was easy to read. It not only traced the history of the business, but detailed how society has evolved dramatically over the years. Read this book!!

This is a wonderful book. Especially for me since my grandfather worked as a carpenter/foreman for Steinway for 50 years. My father attended the German kindergarten run by Steinway and his picture is in the book which makes it extra special for me. I consider it a treasure.

This was a gift...my friend liked it very much.

arrived in beautiful condition

Looking forward to reading this.

The Steinway, or Steinweg family, created the modern piano, and modern methods for producing it. And this is their story. Told through photographs with detailed captions, as is typical with this entire line of books, which is one of my favorite lines of books. One funny error - late in the book, it reports that during WW2, that one of the men of the family spent the war 'serving in Japan'. Now he may have been a POW for part of the war, but that's not what it says. He likely served in the Pacific Theater of Operations, but that's just a guess. But I am nitpicking. This family, starting with shortly after its arrival in the US, did extensive military service starting with the Civil War. And during WW2, multiple members served, and the factories built troop gliders in Queens New York (my dad designed troop gliders at nearby Brewster Aircraft early in the war).

The book is definitely well researched and very educational to read. It covers historical developments not only of the piano building business, but of the evolution of the workers' rights starting from a time where there were none, it portraits the birth of many famous pianists like Horowitz, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff and others. Surprisingly there is no mention whatsoever of Glenn Gould, who nevertheless is associated with the name of Steinway & Sons, I would have expected some anecdotes also about this artist. The book is also useful to be read from a purely industrial management point of view, as it quite well highlights the efforts, sometimes successful and sometimes disastrous, of the various leading persons to make the company grow and also survive in difficult times. Overall a good rating, definitely well worth reading.