Laurence Shames: The Big Time (USA 2015)

From the Publisher:
"Unlike most books on business... this baby sings."
That was the judgment of The New York Daily News in regard to this remarkable volume that entertains on every page while providing rare insights into the methods and secret workings of the Harvard Business School. Focused on HBS's most successful class -- the fabled '49ers, "the Class the dollars fell on" -- the book combines boardroom drama with astute social commentary. More than just a book about business, The Big Time tells the story of the American spirit at the height of a golden age. Rich in compelling anecdotes and unforgettable characters, this fascinating group portrait -- named one of Business Week's 10 Best upon its initial release in 1986 -- remains a seminal study of American privilege and power, ingenuity and hubris, and an essential text for understanding our own times.

Laurence Shames: The Big Time. The Harvard B-School's Most Successful Class. CreateSpace Independent Publ., ISBN: 9781508550594 (March, 2002), 162 p., $19.50, eBook $9.99.

Laurence Shames: The Big Time (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
1949 was a pivotal moment of economic dominance; the MBA was still exotic, arcane, and swaggeringly potent. The men of Harvard Business School '49 would be "the class the dollars fell on." By 1974, nearly one '49er in five was a millionaire. Forty-five percent were chairmen, presidents, or chief operating officers. The men of HBS '49, however, hadn't just achieved success; they'd defined success.

Their story is much more than a catalogue of vivid business tales; it is a map of American ambitions and assumptions, of national triumphs and epic-scale misjudgments that have only recently been finding their comeuppance.

Laurence Shames: The Big Time. The Harvard Business School's Most Successful Class & How It Shaped America. Backinprint.com, ISBN: 0595219500 (March, 2002), 244 p., $16.95.