The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy, and Tobacco: Three Generations of the R. J. Reynolds Family and Fortune - Softcover

The Gilded Leaf is the riveting, dramatic saga of the R. J. Reynolds tobacco family, one of America's richest and most intensely private clans. R.J. was the original founder of the company that became part of RJR Nabisco, which in 1988 was involved in the largest business takeover in history. Spanning three generations, the Reynolds's story moves from the triumphs of founder and corporate genius R. J. to the dissipation, scandal, and tragedy that plagued his children and grandchildren. There is a redemptive close, with grandson Patrick Reynolds founding Smokefree America and becoming a leading anti-smoking advocate.

The Gilded Leaf presents, for the first time, a complete account of the family who captured, spent and redeemed the American dream.

Patrick Reynolds is a grandson of R. J. Reynolds, and has become a leading anti-smoking advocate. In 1989, Mr. Reynolds founded the Foundation for a Smokefree America, a nonprofit group whose mission is to motivate youth to stay tobacco free and to empower smokers to quit. For more information, please visit www.anti-smoking.org.Critically acclaimed author Tom Shachtman has written more than two dozen books and many television documentaries. For more details, see his website, www.tomshachtman.com.