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Taken at The Flood The Story of Albert D. Lasker
Taken at The Flood The Story of Albert D Lasker Author:John Gunther John gunther, author of the "Inside" books, breaks new ground in this engrossing biography. He explores a man about whom little is generally known, though he probably affected American Habits more than anyone in his time. — Albert D. Lasker, the subject of this diverting and discerning book, was one of the most interesting and useful Americans o... more »f the twentieth century. His life impinged colorfully on a surprising variety of elements in the national scene, from advertising and business to politics and philanthropy-including sport, shipping, show business, Jewish affairs and much else.
The son of a Texas pioneer who became a successful businessman, Albert Lasker went into advertising as a young man, starting with the Chicago firm of Lord & Thomas in 1898 at $10 a week. Forty-four years later he left that firm, having taken out of the advertising business something like $45,000,000-more than anyone else ever had-and having established himself as "the father of modern advertising." Mr. Gunther describes in pungent detail the romance of this aspect of American business development-of mass merchandising and production. Most of it is a story never told before.
furthermore, as Mr. Gunther describes and interprets Albert Lasker's complex, enigmatic and altogether fascinating character, the reader discovers that he was much more than an advertising or business genius. Taken at the Flo0d is a human story-full of family drama, homely personal detail and lively anecdotes.
Mr. Lasker's story might be considered the classic one of a tycoon whose career ran from comparatively humble beginnings to inordinate success and wealth, but it goes far beyond that. All his life, Lasker was unconventional. At the peak of his success, sharply disillusioned, he gave up his gigantic business and, in his sixties, started a fruitful new life, largely devoted to art and to the expansion of medical research, which had some astonishing results.
All in all, Lasker was an amazing person. His story is well worth telling, and Mr. Gunther tells it with humor, warmth and the gusto that the subject deserves.« less