5. Barbara Smit, Sneaker Wars

The subtitle - the enemy brothers who founded adidas and puma and the family feud that forever changed the business of sport - says a lot about what the book's about.  Adi (short for Adolf) and Rudi (short for Rudolf) Dasler founded a shoe company in the town of Herzegonaurach in what became West Germany.  At first the outfit can best be described as a cobbler's shop where Adi made custom sports shoes and Rudi went out team to team and tried to sell the shoes.  As the business grew the brothers and their wives began to feud until shortly after WWII they decided to split the company into two.  Adi came away with the manufacturing side of the business and Rudi came away with the sales side of the business.  Adi named his company Adidas (short for Adi Dasler).  Rudi was going to name his company Rudas (short for Rudi Dasler) but felt that the name was unwieldy and changed it to Puma instead.

The book recounts the early years of the sports shoe and apparel business, the competition between the two brothers' companies, the emergence of Nike and later Reebok, the decline of both Adidas and Puma and the re-emergence of both companies in their current form.  The most interesting part of the story takes place in the earlier years:  the fight between the two brothers and the transformation of the sports business from an 'amateur' enterprise to the big money business that it is today.  After that the book is not so interesting.