THIS DAY IN BUSINESS HISTORY

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 History is 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 History gives 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."
  --Mortimer Caplan, 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 History gives 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 word automobile first 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 in This 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 History is 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.