THE FATE OF THE EDSEL

Further adventures in business as per The Seven Fat Years (see p. 649, 1958) on and off the Street offer a refreshingly zestful approach to the matter of getting and spending and sometimes losing money. The major treat is the spectacle of the Edsel debacle, ""a modern American anti-success story"" which started with delusionary dreams of glory, proceeded through the wildest reaches of motivational research, evolved in a veil of secrecy accorded only to the atomic bomb until the final numbing striptease, to the nostalgic recall of ""the crew"", only temporarily battle-scarred, of their greatest if most disastrous campaign. Other business-fun-and-games turn up Walter Gutman, who dubs himself ""a Proust in Wall Street"" and whose unique market letter takes off on unpredictable if predictably spectacular-flights of philosophy; the battle of Memphis country boy Clarence Saunders over a corner in Piggly Wiggly with Wall Street slickers, who won; the strange inability to communicate brought to light by the G.E. scandal probe (here a sharper note is sounded as the author suggests where the responsibility lies); and a final holiday glimpse of Threadneedle Street, Wall Street's opposite number in the City, London, -- with the Exchange, Lloyd's, Hoare & Co. and the Bank of England for fanfare. An aperitif to the sport. Unexpectedly entertaining.