cover image Tycoons: Where They Come from & How They Made It

Tycoons: Where They Come from & How They Made It

William Kay. Salem House Publishers, $16.5 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-88162-159-4

Kay, city editor of the London Times, has written biographies of 13 British entrepreneurs, showing how each built his empire. Interestingly, few began with the dream of becoming tycoonsin fact, few even sought careers that would put them in the position of being independent. If there is a single thread running through all their success stories, it is that these entrepreneurs recognized an opportunity to expand when the general economy was contracting. Kay makes this and many other equally salient points in his perceptive introduction. He observes that in the U.K., even for these business leaders, the world of money-making has a slight tinge of vulgarity. American businessmen would be mistaken to dismiss the book as parochial or irrelevant; it contains lessons for them, too. Photos. (February 21)