Here the Zieglers (The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders) offer a charming account of how they took their last $1500 and started Banana Republic, a retail and catalog business that repurposed military surplus into fashionable clothing for men and women. Told in a dual-voiced narrative with illustrations from the original catalogs, the book allows both authors to give first-person accounts of their odyssey of starting a dual retail and catalog business, creating a fashion line, and opening several stores in California before becoming part of Gap Inc., one of the most successful clothing retailers of the last 20 years. Along the lines of Gary Hirshberg’s Stirring It Up and Fred Lager’s Ben & Jerry’s: The Inside Scoop, this business memoir sheds light on how two passionate and imaginative people were able to create a successful company while maintaining personal integrity. This inspiring history offers a good reminder that the invention and dedication apparent in current tech start-ups is nothing new.
Verdict This book will appeal to socially conscious and fashion-forward readers who love to read about businesses that think outside the box to make their dreams a reality. Highly recommended.—John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll. Lib., Boston