cover image BEST BUSINESS STORIES OF THE YEAR: 2001 Edition

BEST BUSINESS STORIES OF THE YEAR: 2001 Edition

, BEST BUSINESS STORIES OF THE YEAR: 2001 Edition

For this launch edition of a planned annual collection of best business stories, editors Leckey (The Morningstar Approach to Investing) and Loeb (52 Weeks to Financial Fitness) have selected 25 articles originally published in the "year of the Internet bubble" (July 1, 1999–June 30, 2000) in journals as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones. Alongside reporting from accomplished writers such as Jean Strouse, Barbara Ehrenreich, Ken Auletta, Richard Preston and Michael Lewis stands equally excellent work from less familiar journalists like Charles Graeber, Barry Yeoman and John Byrne. Excerpts from the Detroit Free Press's superlative investigative reporting on the deadly food-borne outbreak of Listeriamonocytogenes, which read like a medical thriller, are worth the price of admission on their own. Hard-hitting, well-researched articles on the franchised maid service industry, the privatization of prisons as seen in Youngstown, Ohio, and the plight of "average" workers in the hyperinflated Silicon Valley testify to the high level of journalism on today's burgeoning business scene. Leckey and Loeb have also found space for a few purely entertaining articles (e.g., the savvy profile of Donald Trump that Chris Byron wrote for George magazine, highlighting Trump's genius at manipulating media). Other crowd-pleasing profiles on financial movers and shakers spotlight Value America's founder Craig Winn, Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaheed and Celera Genomics's Craig Venter. (Mar. 20)

Forecast:With its star writers, lively profiles and brilliant reporting on current preoccupations—such as Internet millionaires, the commercialization of biomedical research firms and the ongoing WTO controversy—this excellent collection should attract legions of business readers through Mother's Day and Father's Day, and beyond.