This trashy, overstated assault on the proprietors of Mars Inc. (best known for M&Ms and other candies) could easily prove 1995's worst business book. With awesome self-assurance, albeit precious little flair, Pottker (coauthor, Dear Ann, Dear Abby, 1987) takes out after the secretive Mars clan, which built, owns, and operates an eponymous commercial domain with global reach and annual revenues of at least $12.5 billion. In addition to its perennially popular chocolate bars (Milky Way, Snickers, et al.), the firmbased in McLean, Va. (less than three miles from CIA headquarters, the author is at pains to point out)makes and sells Kal Kan pet foods, Dove confections, and Uncle Ben's rice products. Relying on secondary sources, absent hard data and insights on corporate strategies, Pottker trivializes what by any standard is a consequential multinational enterprise and lards the narrative with frequently contradictory critiques of management's failure to make acquisitions, introduce dramatic new products, and otherwise measure up to her inch-deep understanding of what makes an effective corporate executive. Along the way she offers third-hand gossip on the foibles of the two third-generation brothers (Forrest Jr. and John) who are now running the show. Unfortunately for the author's purposes, the personal lives of the parsimonious, workaholic siblings are not such stuff as tabloid dreams are made on. Nor, despite constant assertions to the contrary (which are belied by the author's own findings), do their performances as corporate executives suffer by comparison with industry counterparts. In the US, Mars Inc. trails only Hershey (by a slim margin) in market share, meanwhile effectively preempting the competition in post-Soviet Russia and other potentially lucrative outlets in the erstwhile Soviet bloc. An uninformed and uninformative take on a pillar of the sweet- tooth trade. (photos, not seen) (First printing of 40,000; author tour)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-882605-20-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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