No one need he told of Shepherd Mead's meteoric rise to the vice-presidency of a large New York corporation, his retire­ment at an early age to a life of ease and luxury, or of his un­challenged position in American Letters. Many, indeed, are the readers who owe their present affluence to his How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying—a book that has brought easy riches to thousands and has been translated into Broad­way's Greatest Musical Hit. However, few know of his match­less qualifications and long preparation for the writing of this volume.

One might even say that the Work began that April day more than forty years ago when Mead came hurtling into the world.

There's something different about that boy," everyone said. How right they were!

Born weak, sickly, and ugly, Mead would probably have been drowned at birth in a sterner society. Allowed to live, he soon showed bis mettle, and by sheer character brought himself to where he is today.

One of the first to appreciate the really dangerous situation facing the human male, Mead began bis experiments early. While most youngsters were playing childish games, Mead was at work experimenting, checking, testing.

Having forged a physique of striking proportions, he found work easily as a lifeguard, a profession where lithe, supple bodies are taken for granted, and where bravery is common­place.

Constantly exposed to and sought by admiring women, Mead did not swerve from his duty, performing feats of daring by day, and by night applying himself to the problem that was to become his life work: how to bring the human male to a posi­tion of equality in the world.

Year after year Mead's lifeguard stand became in a sense a field station, a tiny outpost of science. Meanwhile at a nearby university he was learning—for books, too, were to play a part.

The Idea was taking shape. Where, he asked himself, could he learn the most?

He traveled to Manhattan where he spent seven years as a young bachelor and man about town, by day carving out for himself an envied position in American business, and by night turning over the problem which had become an obsession.

Meanwhile he was developing the powerful sitting muscles which enable him to work such long hours.

However, it was not until 1943 that the project took real shape. He married, and effortlessly presented his wife with three fine children.

Not satisfied with his own research, Mead talked with hun­dreds of men, noting, comparing, analyzing.

Side by side with the endless field work, he was sharpening his writing tools. One day, he knew, he would have to present his findings to the world. As a warm-up he dashed off three novels and several books of instruction, including How To Succeed in Business.

At last Mead was ready. Locking himself with his typewriter, he disappeared for days at a time, often not eating or sleeping from Friday night to Monday morning. For months his warm smile was missing, but the pages were piling up.

No sooner was the ink dry than word spread that Mead was attacking America's dominant sex, and he was forced to flee across the U.S.'s Apron Curtain to sanctuary in Europe, where males retain equality. Only his publisher and a few trusted friends know his exact whereabouts.

From his retreat, Mead has wirelessed this final word to all American men: "You, too, can strike a blow for freedom," he signaled. "You need nothing but determination, guts, character —and, of course, the price of this volume."

It is not true (as rumor has it) that one may become rich merely by touching this book. It is necessary to redd it, and even to learn parts of it For here are rules for easy riches and Success, laboratory-tested in the executive suites of America's Greatest Corporations.

F558 HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITH­OUT REALLY TRYING

by Shepherd Mead

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More than 280 pages of Liebling's most famous articles on "The Wayward Press" from The New Yorker, together with 20,000 words of entertain­ing and thought-provoking commentary.

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