
Sketches of eminent Americans and a pointed reconsideration of the ingredients of the American Dream form a fascinating social history. Should be must reading in executive suites as well as college classrooms. --Forbes

"Ambition is not what it used to be," writes Joseph Epstein. The desire to get ahead no longer evokes the same admiration it once did-indeed, modern novelists seem hardly able to deal with ambition without a sneer. But is ambition necessarily synonymous with ruthless, narrow...

Sketches of eminent Americans and a pointed reconsideration of the ingredients of the American Dream form a fascinating social history. Should be must reading in executive suites as well as college classrooms. --Forbes