Who Wrote the First Business Book?

How about Julius Caesar?

Caesar wrote The Gallic Wars in the 50s BC, describing his campaign leading a Roman army in what is now France.

Classicists disagree about whether he used a ghostwriter, but in every other respect, Caesar's book followed the same template as a modern business book:

⚔ It wasn't intended to make money.
⚔ It highlighted Caesar's character and leadership
⚔ It raised Caesar's support among the public
⚔ It gained him a competitive edge over his rival for power, Pompey
⚔ It showed Romans how Caesar could solve their problems – by assuring them that the gods were on Caesar's side

At the end of the campaign in France, Caesar disobeyed orders and led his army back into Italy. That started a civil war.

(The Italian border was a small river called the Rubicon. Hence the phrase "To cross the Rubicon" – meaning to reach a point of no return.)

After Caesar won the war, he exploited the popularity his book helped create to become dictator … and a few years later, dictator for life. (Or until his assassination on the Ides of March, anyway.)

Which is quite an ROI for any book.