Synopsis
An in-depth biography of the world's first international celebrity business mogul: Sir Thomas Lipton, the founder of Lipton Tea and a self-made man, who revived the competition for the America's Cup.
In A Full Cup, Michael D'Antonio tells the tale of this larger- than-life figure. Beginning with a journey across the United States just after the Civil War, Thomas J. Lipton developed the ambition and learned the business techniques that helped him create the first chain of grocery stores. Wealthy before the age of thirty, he set his sights on the tea trade, and soon his name became synonymous with his product.
Lipton's great business success makes for a compelling story of innovation and achievement. Moreover, though, Lipton's most intriguing creation was a public persona-one of the first formed with the help of a modern mass media-that appealed to millions of ordinary people, as well as the elites in America and Europe.
Concocting simple stunts like elephant parades, Lipton mastered the new art of obtaining free publicity. With shameless self-promotion, he became one of the world's most eligible bachelors, a patron of the poor, and ultimately reached legendary heights when he revived the competition for the America's Cup. With one losing attempt after another, the gallant Lipton, who didn't even know how to sail his own yacht, became ever more popular. D'Antonio's biography brings to vivid life this remarkable figure.
Author
Michael D’Antonio grew up in the small island village of New Castle, New Hampshire where he discovered the world in the books at a one-room library. Before becoming a fulltime author and freelance writer, Michael worked as a reporter and features writer in New England, Washington D.C. and New York. Among other assignments he has covered the U.S. Congress, presidential campaigns and national political conventions. He has reported from Europe, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil and the Philippines. During his tenure at Newsday on Long Island, he was a member of a team awarded the Pulitzer Prize and he has won several other honors, including the Alicia Patterson Fellowship.
Michael has published more than a dozen books including Atomic Harvest, Tin Cup Dreams, Mosquito, The State Boys Rebellion, andHershey. The author of hundreds of magazine articles, his work has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Discover, and many other publications. He has also written and sold original stories for film, including two—Deacons for Defense and Crown Heights—that were produced and aired by Showtime. He received the Humanitas Award for the original story for Crown Heights.
