Morgan Bulkeley first saw the Berkshires on a golden fall day in 1928. A school outing brought him to Bear Mountain, where he ate a sandwich ashis eyes feasted on the natural beauty spread before him. He was fourteen and suddenly found himself in love with a place. In more than 100 pithy, beautiful, and frequently witty pieces, Bulkeley records the incredibly complex riches of his beloved Berkshire County. Organized into four sections (history, nature, people, and conservation), Berkshire Stories offers a profound portrait of an evolving community and landscape. Reading these stories, we come to understand what it means to truly inhabit a place. We not only get to know its history and people, its ecology, plants, birds, and animals, but also its geological past and its potentially human future. Anyone who has ever been touched by the rich beauty of the Berkshires--whether for the first time or as a lifelong resident--will love this book. Berkshire Stories is illustrated throughout with drawings by the well-known artist Morgan Bulkeley, Jr., the author's son. Contents: Foreword by Morgan Bulkeley, Jr. By Way of Introduction Berkshire History Berkshire Nature Birding and Botanizing Berkshire People Conserving the Berkshires

Berkshire Hathaway, the $300 billion conglomerate that Warren Buffett built, is among the worldÕs largest and most famous corporations. Yet, for all its power and celebrity, few people understand Berkshire, and many assume it cannot survive without Buffett. This book proves that assumption wrong. In a comprehensive portrait of the distinct corporate culture that unites and sustains BerkshireÕs fifty direct subsidiaries, Lawrence A. Cunningham unearths the traits that assure the conglomerateÕs perpetual prosperity. Riveting stories recount each subsidiaryÕs origins, triumphs, and journey to Berkshire and reveal the strategies managers use to generate economic value from intangible values, such as thrift, integrity, entrepreneurship, autonomy, and a sense of permanence. Rich with lessons for those wishing to profit from the Berkshire model, this engaging book is a valuable read for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and investors, and it makes an important resource for scholars of corporate stewardship. General readers will enjoy learning how an iconoclastic businessman transformed a struggling shirt company into a corporate fortress destined to be his lasting legacy.

In this engaging collection of stories, 43 veterans of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting explain why throngs attend year after year. Beyond the famous Q&A with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, these experts reveal the Berkshire Meeting as a community gathering of fun, fellowship and learning. The contributors whisk readers through the exciting schedule of surrounding events--book signings, panel discussions and social gatherings--and share the pulse of this distinctive corporate culture. Spanning decades, the book offers glimpses of the past and ideas of what lies ahead. To learn about what makes Buffett’s shareholders tick and all the happenings at the Berkshire Meeting, and to reminisce about past Meetings, make this delightful book your companion. Includes work by these bestselling authors: - Robert Hagstrom - Robert Miles - Jason Zweig - Joel Greenblatt - Vitally Katsenelson - Jeff Matthews - Charlie Tian - Whitney Tilson - Prem Jain - Karen Linder

Morgan Bulkeley first saw the Berkshires on a golden fall day in 1928. A day's outing from school had brought him up Bear Mountain where he ate a sandwich while his eyes feasted on the natural beauty spread around him. He was fourteen and had fallen in love with a place. Seven years later, after college, leaving behind the hurly-burly of commercial life, he went to live Thoreau-like in a small cabin on the shores of Plantain Pond on Mount Washington.

For the first time the complete financial history of Berkshire Hathaway is available under one cover in chronological format. Beginning at the origins of the predecessor companies in the textile industry, the reader can examine the development of the modern-day conglomerate year-by-year and decade-by-decade, watching as the struggling textile company morphs into what it has become today. This comprehensive analysis distils over 10,000 pages of research material, including Buffett’s Chairman’s letters, Berkshire Hathaway annual reports and SEC filings, annual meeting transcripts, subsidiary financials, and more. The analysis of each year is supplemented with Buffett’s own commentary where relevant, and examines all important acquisitions, investments, and other capital allocation decisions. The appendices contain balance sheets, income statements, statements of cash flows, and key ratios dating back to the 1930s, materials brought together for the first time. The structure of the book allows the new student to follow the logic, reasoning, and capital allocation decisions made by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger from the very beginning. Existing Berkshire shareholders and long-time observers will find new information and refreshing analysis, and a convenient reference guide to the decades of financial moves that built the modern-day respected enterprise that is Berkshire Hathaway.

“You’ll never look at the region the same way again after reading about the tunnel from hell, toe-tugging spirits, and the curse of the mummy.” —The Boston Globe Before it became a haven for arts and culture, the Berkshires was a rugged, sparsely populated frontier. From the early days of Revolutionary fervor and industrial enterprise to today’s tourism, many chilling stories remain. A lost girl haunts a cemetery in Washington, and mysterious spirits still perform at Tanglewood. From the ghostly halls of the Houghton Mansion to the eerie events at the Hoosac Tunnel, residents and visitors alike have felt fear and awe in these hills, telling tales of shadow figures, disembodied voices and spectral trains. Author Robert Oakes, who has given ghost tours at The Mount in Lenox for more than a decade, leads this spirited journey through history. “The rich history of this region—spanning more than two centuries—includes spine-tingling tales from almost every town in the county. Oakes culled many of them for his book, which touches on myriad metaphysicals, including ‘The Undead Hessian of Egremont,’ ‘Highwood’s Ghost at Tanglewood,’ and ‘The Ghostly Guest in 301: The Red Lion Inn’—each of which will inspire readers to ‘peer into the shadows beyond the beam of [their] flashlight.’” —The Berkshire Edge