This Day in Business History : Great Corporate Tales, Commercial Milestones, Colorful Titans, Captivating Quotes, and Calamitous Blunders for Every Day of the Year

by Francis, Raymond L.

• ISBN13: 9780071447775
• ISBN10: 0071447776
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-22
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

The perfect gift for every desktop-a day-by-day compendium of fun facts, business trivia, and money-making milestones throughout history In the bestselling tradition of Schott's Original Miscellany, this handsomely bound collection of business quips, quotables, and quandaries makes an ideal office gift for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs. Each daily entry features a fun and fascinating glimpse behind history's greatest financial triumphs-and failures-from the art-loving Medicis to the Microsoft-selling Bill Gates.

Author Biography

Raymond L. Francis, Ph.D., is a historian of commerce, science, and technology who has taught at colleges and universities around the world and is the author of the critically acclaimed Illustrated Almanac of Science, Technology, and Invention.

Table of Contents

Nearly two millennia of business booms and busts, money-making milestones and manias, and commercial coups and catastrophes

Whether you love business or think it''s the root of all evil, this one-of-a-kind compendium will have you hooked from page one

Looking for a present for that special manager, consultant, pundit, MBA candidate, or mogul-in-the-making?

Look no further,This Day in Business Historyis a gift he or she will cherish for years to come

Featuring hundreds of fun facts, quotable quips, and poignant profiles organized in a day-by-day format,This Day in Business Historygives you the skinny on some of the most admirable and execrable personages in business history, along with the inside scoop on the all-time greatest business and financial coups and disasters­ ­--for example: JUNE 25, 2002

What a day for spectacular scandals: WorldCom announces it has lied about $3.9 billion in expenses and fake profits, Adelphia files for bankruptcy, and Martha Stewart makes her famous clenched-face appearance on the cooking segment of CBS''s

"The Early Morning Show." FEBRUARY 1, 1963"

There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist--the taxidermist leaves the hide."

Director, Internal Revenue Service MAY 8, 1532

The first known limited liability partnership contract is signed in Florence

By ensuring that investors could lose no more than the amount they invested, the invention of limited liability was critical to the development of large-scale industry because it encouraged investment and freed up capital

JULY 6, 1785

The Continental Congress in Philadelphia agrees unanimously "that the money unit of the United States of America be one dollar

that the smallest coin be of copper, of which two hundred shall pass for one dollar

that several pieces shall increase in a decimal ratio."

Warning:This book can be habit-forming

Side effects can include gasps of amazement, tears of merriment, the shock of recognition, a persistent guffaw, and a generalized swelling of the brain''s knowledge centers

From Cosimo de Medici (a.k.a. "The Magnificent") to J. P. Morgan to Bill Gates,This Day in Business Historygives you your daily dose of fun facts, quotable quips, and inspirational insights from the worlds of business and finance

Which free-trade guru was kidnapped by gypsies at the age of four?

What segment of the world economy was wiped out virtually overnight by the advent of commercial radio?

When did the wordautomobilefirst appear in print?

Who was the great statesman who said "We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals

we now know that it is bad economics"?

When was the dollar sign invented?

Find out inThis Day in Business History

Acclaimed historian and bestselling author Raymond L. Francis draws upon his unsurpassed knowledge of business history to give you the lowdown on the who, what, when, and where (and, of course, how much) behind hundreds of business triumphs and disasters and to tell the stories of the most sensational frauds, fads, and follies ever to sweep the business and financial worlds

Here''s a taste of what you''ll find inside

January 6, 1794

Rebecca Lukens, the first female manager in the steel industry is born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania

February 12, 1970

Joseph Louis Searles III becomes the first black member of the New York Stock Exchange, now about 200 years old

He was a partner in the brokerage firm of Newburger, Loeb and Company

April 13, 1860

The Pony Express completes its first successful delivery of mail to Sacramento from St. Joseph, Missouri

Hundreds cheer as Tom Hamilton gallops up to the post office and hands over the mail satchel containing 49 letters and three newspapers

June 1, 1980

Cable News Network (CNN) goes on the air at 6:00 P.M. when owner Ted Turner flicks a switch and delivers a speech

"We won''t sign off until the end of the world--and we''ll cover that live."

This Day in Business Historyis a must-have for public speakers, journalists, authors, broadcast professionals, history buffs, and everyone who understands that the business of the 21st century is business

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.