Lexington Books
Pages: 332
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-0-7391-8426-4 • Hardback • October 2013 • $147.00 • (£113.00)
978-1-4985-0072-2 • Paperback • August 2014 • $57.99 • (£45.00)
978-0-7391-8428-8 • eBook • October 2013 • $55.00 • (£42.00)
Edward W. Younkins is professor of accountancy and director of graduate programs in the Department of Business at Wheeling Jesuit University.
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Rise of Silas Lapham: A Story of Self-Identity, Self-Respect, and Morality
Chapter 2. Taking a Look at Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward
Chapter 3. Frank Norris's The Octopus: An Epic of Wheat and Railroads
Chapter 4. The Financier: Theodore Dreiser's Portrait of a Darwinian Businessman
Chapter 5. Abraham Cahan's The Rise of David Levinsky
Chapter 6. Babbitt: Sinclair Lewis's Portrait of a Middle-Aged Middle Class Businessman
Chapter 7. "Who is Henry M. Galt?": A Review of Garet Garrett's The Driver
Chapter 8. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Chapter 9. An American Romance: King Vidor's Epic Film of Immigration and the American Dream
Chapter 10. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman: A Case of Self-Delusion
Chapter 11. John P. Marquand's Point of No Return
Chapter 12. Henry Hazlitt's Time Will Run Back: A Tale of the Reinvention of Capitalism
Chapter 13. Executive Suite: A Story of Corporate Success and Succession
Chapter 14. Cash McCall: The Story of a Heroic Corporate Rider
Chapter 15. Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Chapter 16. Atlas Shrugged: An Epic Story of Heroic Businessmen
Chapter 17. Sometimes a Great Notion: The Story of a Family Who Would Never Give an Inch
Chapter 18. Wilfrid Sheed's Office Politics: A Lesson about Organizational Conflict
Chapter 19. The Franchiser: Stanley Elkin's Tale of a Man Who Wanted to Costume the Country
Chapter 20. Glengarry Glen Ross: A David Mamet Word Play
Chapter 21. Wall Street: Oliver Stone's Zero-Sum Vision of Capitalism
Chapter 22. Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Chapter 23. David Lodge's Nice Work: A Tale of Two Cultures
Chapter 24. Other People's Money: A Tale of Capitalism and Creative Destruction
Chapter 25: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Conclusion
Exploring Capitalist Fiction, a new volume of literary analysis by Dr. Edward W. Younkins, offers perceptive, relevant, and engaging commentaries on 25 works of fiction which portray the business world and its relationship to all areas of human life. . .Younkins is to be commended for emphasizing the value of fiction as a teaching tool for both students of business and individuals immersed in the business world. . . .Exploring Capitalist Fiction is an excellent means to appreciate the richness and variety of fictional portrayals of business, especially since the Second Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century. The book offers a concise introduction to many works and endeavors to motivate readers to seek out and experience the original novels, plays, and films.
— The National Argumentator: A Journal for Western Man
Exploring Capitalist Fiction may not sound like a page-turner. But Edward W. Younkins, a professor of accountancy and director of graduate programs in the Department of Business at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, has produced a most appealing and useful text, one that can satisfy a variety of interests. ... Younkins gives the reader a good mix of works. There are novels, plays and movies, and in some cases such as "The Great Gatsby," novels that have been made into movies a number of times—1949, 1974, 2000, 2003—an indication, perhaps, of the story's enduring attraction. ... In sum, there is a lot to like and a lot of learn in Exploring Capitalist Fiction.
— El Paso Times
Younkins puts together a canon of economics-themed fiction here and does not stop with works that are just still popular today. ... Anyone who teaches business or economics will find in Younkins’s book an extremely helpful guide to expanding one’s teaching beyond the usual non-fiction standards to connect with students on a level that goes beyond mere concepts and into the illustrations of how humans truly interact with the economic systems around them. In other words, this book will help instructors use art to improve instruction while helping students consume popular culture more insightfully.
— Mises Review
This richly annotated bibliography of novels, films, and plays could be read in conjunction with studying business. Arguing that these imaginative works offer insights not found in textbooks or case studies, Younkins explicates their power to represent as well as entertain. After a summary introduction, the author presents 25 brief, chronological chapters, each focusing on a separate work, beginning with William Dean Howells's The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) and ending with Oliver Stone's film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). In summarizing these works, Younkins emphasizes universal themes, such as amorality in Theodore Dreiser's The Financier, the American Dream in Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, individualism in Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion, and competition in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. After a brief conclusion that again summarizes the content, the book ends with appendixes that list additional business novels, plays, and films . . . [T]his volume serves as an ideal primer for an instructor who wishes to include literature in a business course. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; faculty; general readers.
— Choice Reviews