Family Reins

The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty

By: Billy Busch

Narrated by: Billy Busch

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The story of the iconic Anheuser-Busch dynasty, written—for the first time—by a Busch heir.

As an heir to the Anheuser-Busch company and fortune, Billy Busch was raised on the real stories of how his family built one of America’s oldest and most iconic brands. Since the company was formed almost 150 years ago, the Busch family, their beer, the famous Clydesdales in their advertising, and even their style of business have become a symbol of the American dream—that not-so-outdated belief that hard work, grit, and a positive can-do attitude make anything possible.

Growing up on the family’s ancestral estate as a prince to the King of Beers, Billy lived a life only kids could dream up—living in an amusement park, traveling by private rail car and yacht, and playing with his pet elephant, Tessie. But as he grew up, he realized that the Busch family legacy was not just wealth and privilege. With no separation between family and business, Billy’s father—more boss than dad—continued the tradition of preparing the next generation for corporate leadership, with high and exacting standards for his children. For Billy, all of this, combined with a dysfunctional family environment, was all too normal.

Family Reins tells the story of a legendary American family, their rise to power, and their fall from grace through poisonous infighting, succession struggles, and a seemingly endless string of tragedies, scandals, and loss.

©2023 Billy Busch (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Critic reviews

Library Journal Pick

Behind closed doors

Every family has their struggles. Having group in St. Louis and visiting Grant’s Farm multiple times I was fascinated by this look into what life was like in the big house. It’s also very true that siblings in the same family have unique personalities and can be treated very differently by their parents. Many in St. Louis deeply appreciate all that the Busch family did for the community. I appreciate Billy openly sharing the struggles and pain of sibling rivalry. It’s heartbreaking and frustrating when a sibling betrays you as an adult and only wants to compete. This story was enlightening, sincere, heartfelt. A very engaging read, one that I think many people will relate to, even if you didn’t grow up with a pet elephant.

Best book

This book has been one of the best books I have listened to in a long time.

I love this book

The personal story of Billy’s life was wonderful to read. Living the fairytale life growing up had its pitfalls, but what a positive outlook he has on life today. This is an important part of St. Louis history and I appreciate that he has written this book and shared it with the world. Truly a treasure and very well done.

Big ego

Another story about the dysfunction that exists among families who have inherited everything. Really not that interesting of a story just confirms that most of the people mentioned would be living in the same trailer park across from one another had they not inherited everything. It seems that none of the bushes have ever truly achieved anything on their own.

Not a great book

The performance is what you would expect. Read very monotone and plodding. Obviously the story is from his point of view. After all he wrote it. But there is just too much, other people did things to mess my life up.
Kind of whiney. I was a huge fan of his beer and looked forward to hearing about his brewery. Not much about that.

Interesting story

Very interesting view of the Busch legacy. Very notable as the view from Billie, would love to hear the others!

A great history of one of America’s giant corporations

As someone who was raised in the Budweiser family of distributors, this was a fascinating and delightful book to read. My father bought the distributor ship in 1970. The Busch family were great to dork with. They were generous with the distributors. InBev was a nightmare to work with and it was the way they treated the distributors that caused us to sell the business.

We always said dad would work up until the day he died, and he basically did. He died in May and we closed the sale of the business in September. Dad always loved the Clydesdales and had them brought to town several times. When he died we had them etched into the headstone on hid grave so they would always be a part of him. I really enjoyed reading about their link to naming Budweiser “the King of Beers”.

I enjoyed the authors writing style. And will go to their website to see what other things they have that I might enjoy reading. GREAT job!

Interesting view of the privileged and not so privileged life of the Busch family

Thoughtful look into the dynamics of a well known St. Louis family. Shows that while money helps provide multiple avenues it does not provide for story book endings. Dysfunctional families are everywhere. Found it interesting to listen to

I work for Anheisler Busch

I Retired from the Fairfield brewery. And I know a little bit of about anheisr Bush history. This is the best book about the bushes and Read the 2 prior books about the bushes out of the 2. I'd like to throw in the king. Billy bush wrote a great story and he's a great narrator of this book