How could I not like this book? Here’s a historical story about family business, Quaker capitalism, and the battle against a hostile takeover from a Wall Street firm. And it’s about chocolate. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending — the bad guys won.

Deborah Cadbury has written what, for her, is a family history. Chocolate Wars covers the rise of chocolate in Britain, and specifically her forefathers effort to form the Cadbury chocolate company.

She tells how Quaker values created a unique company that was more concerned with the welfare of the employees than creating massive wealth. Today we talk about triple bottom line as if it were a new invention, but the Quakers were doing this in the 19th Century. We also talk about chocolate companies battling slave labor in Africa, but again the Quakers were battling this over 100 years ago. The picture of socially responsible businessmen overseeing a benign chocolate company might be a bit idealistic. But there is a lot of truth here, and it’s important to remember that the capitalism we live with today could learn a lot from the concept of Quaker capitalism.

Along with Cadbury and other competing British companies (also Quaker led), the book tracks the growth of Hershey, Nestle, Mars and others. The last few chapters focus on the Kraft company’s hostile takeover of Cadbury and the fallout of that transaction. It’s a bit depressing, all the more so because the financial and social impact is significant but the protest has waned to a whisper.

I really enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure everybody will. It’s well researched but not particularly well written. The subject matter can drag at times as Cadbury describes in detail the company town built to produce chocolate in England. And it bounces around a lot, from Switzerland to France to England to America, at times creating a bit of geographic whiplash.

Still, if you are interested in family business (as I am), history (as I am), an analysis of current capitalism (as I am), and socially responsible investing (as I am), you’ll find a lot of information in this book that will keep you turning pages.

Oh, and did I mention it’s about chocolate? Yeah, one more reason to read it!