E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company was founded in July 1802 as a gun powder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont on Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, Delaware.
Du Pont later evolved into one of the world's largest chemical companies, and in the 20th century led the polymer revolution by developing many highly successful materials such as nylon, teflon and kevlar.
Today, DuPont is a multi-national chemicals and health care company with 2002 revenues of $24.5 billion.
Gerard Colby (Zilg), had written a book on the DuPont family named "Du Pont: Behind the Nylon Curtain", which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1974. When the first edition came out, the DuPonts played hardball with publisher Prentice-Hall and anyone who dared review the book favorably. Prentice-Hall caved in and slashed its print run and advertising, despite high demand. Ultimately P-H let it go out of print altogether. In 1984 Lyle Stuart re-released an extended version named "Du Pont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain" that seems also to be under boycott (counting results of a google search).