A rags-to-riches book detailing the long and winding story about how Sargento developed into a U.S.-based billion-dollar cheese company. At first, I feared that I would not like this somewhat soft-soaped book – due to its positioning --- which invariably would place a positive sheen on the company. Expunge such erroneous thoughts, it immediately grew on you and became an immensely pleasant, different and informative read.

As a non-American, this reviewer has not heard of Sargento, so the book added a further level of knowledge while allowing the reader to remain neutral to the company and its background. By the end of the book, one is a lot more informed. It turned out to be one of the better business history/biography books seen for quite a time. The book is written from the viewpoint of four generations of the Gentine family (the founder passed away in 1996), covering everything from the inception of the company up to the present day.

The book mixes business history, development activity, personal news and more, celebrating success and setbacks equally, leading to this fascinating book. It is something you may genuinely fail to put down in a hurry. It is a book for a long reading session. A dip-in and dip-out book this isn’t. The astute reader may pick up some good advice to enhance their business activities too, even though this is not a ‘system learning’ book in itself. The stories will get you thinking, being inspired and motivated to do things differently, yet each reader will form different judgements and evaluations along the way.

There is not a lot more to add. The book can be worthy of closer consideration. It would be an ideal book for travelling or the daily commute too. It is not arduous in itself, and you can put it down when there is a good cause, but you won’t be putting it down out of boredom or frustration.