Oscar Schisgall

A frankly appalling book. It's one of the longest public-relations handouts I've ever seen. In this case, it's an attempt to burnish the image of Meshulam Riklis, a figure that from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s bought and sold a dizzying variety of industrial concerns, using maximum leverage (meaning debt). Some might recall he also was wed to Pia Zadora (long after this book came out). The book is off-putting in the arse-kissing it does. Even the faults of Riklis, one of which is excessive loyalty. Good heavens. In any event, Riklis' empire eventually collapsed, not that I think the author here would have understood why. Schisgall, who died in 1984, was noted in his Times obituary as being a "corporate historian." Translation, based on this book: a flack and a hack. He apparently also did books on Xerox, Bowery Savings, Procter & Gamble and Greyhound, all of which I will do my best to avoid. This book is emphatically NOT recommended, even to those studying how to flack for companies.… (mais)