Castles in the Sand: The Life and Times of Carl Graham Fisher
2002; Oxford University Press; Volume: 88; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2700705
ISSN1945-2314
AutoresAlan R. Raucher, Mark S. Foster,
Tópico(s)American Environmental and Regional History
ResumoThough largely forgotten now, during the early twentieth century Carl Graham Fisher achieved success and fame in several different but related areas of business. In succession, he was an important automotive parts manufacturer, the founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the promoter of the transnational Lincoln and Dixie highways, and, most important, the founder of Miami Beach during the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s. Fisher's overextended financial empire collapsed in the late 1920s, and he declared personal bankruptcy in 1935, dying four years later due to prolonged alcohol abuse. A self-made man, Fisher succeeded in business as a bold entrepreneur, not as a corporate innovator. According to Mark S. Foster's biography, he was a natural salesman: radiant, magnetic, dynamic, optimistic, engaging. After starting his career as a daredevil bicycle and automobile racer, Fisher became an aggressive and flamboyant promoter and developer, mastering ballyhoo publicity stunts and the use of celebrities along the lines of P. T. Barnum. But appallingly sloppy in keeping financial records and lax in exercising fiduciary responsibilities, he operated far removed from the modern corporate structures and managerial systems then emerging. Fisher was an anachronism even before his excessive optimism and failure to diversify led to financial ruin. What then made him a worthy subject for a lengthy biography?
Referência(s)