Studies in entrepreneurial history have had their ups and downs. In recent years, however, the history of entrepreneurship has gained new traction. Werner Plumpe, who teaches economic and social history at Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, studies the German manager-industrialist Carl Duisberg (1861–1935), and his book is a wonderful example of the recent upswing of entrepreneurial history. Plumpe places his work in a line with that of Joseph Schumpeter and regards it as a contribution to explaining the dynamics of capitalism, by focusing on its “individual conditions” that, in the opinion of Plumpe, are largely out of capitalism's own reach and influences (pp. 17–18). In essence, Plumpe's goal is to trace the “conditions of the possibilities of individual success as entrepreneur” and to link such conditions to capitalistic dynamics (p. 15). Moreover, he is convinced that the characteristics of entrepreneurship are at least as much influenced by cultural context and opportunity as by personality traits.

Carl Duisberg is the perfect choice for Plumpe's endeavor, for a couple of reasons. First, though many had similar opportunities to apply their entrepreneurial talents in rapidly and deeply changing contexts, ranging from Wilhelmine Germany through World War I and the Weimar Republic to the beginnings of the “Third Reich,” Duisberg was participating in specific ways. Because of his role as organizer of chemical armament in World War I, his status as representative of organized industry during the Weimar Republic, and, due to the infamous role in World War II and the shoah of the giant corporation that he had a leading role in creating, I.G. Farbenindustrie AG, Duisberg's life is cast in dark colors. Second, Duisberg was not only very organized, and applied a small army of clerks busy with his correspondence, he also commanded an institution that took care of his impressive papers after he died. The papers of Carl Duisberg belong to the largest holdings of the archives of Bayer AG, and they constitute the wealth of sources Plumpe's story is based on. Third, Duisberg was an outsider in the upper-class of his region and industry, who—though quickly becoming an insider—kept something of his original trajectory. This resilience gives his life, and his life's study, the spiritedness that a story of almost 1,000 pages needs.

Born into a rather poor household of ribbon weavers in the industrial town of Barmen (today Wuppertal) in western Germany, Carl Duisberg quickly took advantage of the booming synthetic dyestuffs industry that had one of its roots in the area. He studied chemistry, unusual given his family background, and in 1884 joined one of the then mid-sized chemical companies specializing in making dyestuffs out of coal tar, Farbenfabriken Bayer of Elberfeld. This was the high-tech industry of the time, and Farbenfabriken faced fierce competition by the bigger BASF and Farbwerke Hoechst. Plumpe analyzes the methods and schemes Duisberg applied himself during twenty years to making Farbenfabriken Bayer, against all odds, into the leading chemical firm of Germany, and the nucleus of the trust that, again twenty years later, in 1925, became I.G. Farben. The events are well known, but Plumpe, watching the story unfold through the eyes of one of the main players, adds an intensity to the drama that has previously escaped the historians’ view. Duisberg, through marriage, quickly entered the group of the owner families, and he successfully applied his many talents to link invention and organization. Through sheer organizational force, he managed Farbenfabriken Bayer's ascent to the top league.

Plumpe's interest is focused on Duisberg, the man, and the ways this character was influenced and shaped by his environment. We understand the many setbacks even a very successful entrepreneur had to go through, and we experience it first hand, in Duisberg's letters and memoranda, filtered, analyzed, and portrayed through Plumpe's pen. We get, as well, to know the private Duisberg, his style of living, marriage and children, respect for art, and love for the automobile. Duisberg became a rich man, though he never entered the upper echelons of German industrial aristocracy, and he always remained an employed manager.

In Plumpe's view, World War I was the decisive watershed in Duisberg's life. Up to then, he followed the typical career path of a successful social climber. By 1914, his opportunism had not met a real challenge, which arrived in the form of World War I. During the next twenty years of almost constant crisis, opportunism enabled economic success. Duisberg played crucial roles in the armament efforts of the Reich; engaged amateurishly in politics in aligning forces with Erich Ludendorff, the architect of Germany's military machine; and sought understanding with the Social Democrats and organized labor in the Weimar Republic. He became the president of the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie, trying to steer a middle course between more liberal forces and the right-wing representatives of the steel and coal industries. In 1933, he applauded Adolf Hitler's rise to power, but died too soon to exert influence. In Plumpe's view, the conditions of the times, not Duisberg's motives and character, made “vices out of virtues” (p. 824). Thus, with circumstances Plumpe justifies much of what has been seen as clearly negative in Duisberg's actions by other scholars, and although Plumpe keeps the critical distance of the biographer, the reader, through the narrative, grows sympathetic with Duisberg's decisions, however questionable they were. Sometimes, I wished to see more edges, faults, and blurs in this otherwise colorful and nuanced portrait of a master-opportunist in action.

Plumpe's study is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of German and international business, 1880 to 1930. It is a character study of an entrepreneur, enabling us to see Duisberg in his own, magnified context, thanks to Plumpe's narrative talent, and because of the richness of his sources. For many, however, reading this narrative will have to await an English translation, which hopefully arrives soon.