Wall Street Women

Once exclusively male preserves, Wall Street brokerage houses and investment banks have in this decade seen the rise of women to top executive ranks. Fisher, a former Fortune editor, describes several remarkable women who have made it big in the world of high finance, e.g., Elaine Garzarelli of Shearson Lehman Hutton; Susan Byrne, founder of Westwood Management; and Brenda Landry of Morgan Stanley. The book is best when recounting the cutthoat competition and grueling schedule (constant travel and 100-hour workweeks) that the ``money business'' demands of its practitioners. Fisher falters when ascribing to cliched pop-psychology notions that women are more nurturing and well-balanced than men. This well-written book is both a good general introduction to Wall Street and a thorough report on the increasingly important role that women are playing there. Fortune Book Club alternate. (Jan.)