Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Author: Christopher M. Byron
List Price: $14.95
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ISBN: 0471429589
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (08 April, 2003)
Sales Rank: 12,365
Average Customer Rating: 3.31 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Just Desserts Is Better
Martha Inc. is a balanced biography of Martha Stewart, but short on recent details. I was hoping to read more about her life after she started Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, but most of the material is a re-hash of many events that one can read in Just Desserts. The epilogue contains information about Martha and Kmart after the tech bust and Kmart's bankruptcy, which is a nice follow-up. The author, Christopher Byron, seems a bit star-struck by Martha, too, calling her a "beautiful blonde" a few too times in the book. Martha Inc. is a good read for Martha followers like me -- subscriber to the magazine, viewer of her TV show, consumer of Martha products -- but to the reader who wants even juicier details, read Just Desserts first.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Who Is the REAL Martha Stewart?
This "take" on Martha Stewart and her career is a fascinating read but it seems excessively eager to tear her down. She is obviously obsessed with success, a controlling and domineering personality -- but that's what it takes to build the kind of successful company that she has built. She's careful about details, she's a tough negotiator with her own interests foremost in her negotiations, she forges ahead.She also is so self-absorbed that she has no manners. But isn't she a product of a generation that prides itself on looking after #1 and labels good manners as "old fashioned?"
Stewart's story is a sad one, of an emotionally abused childhood and of such obsession with perfection and her image as a successful businesswoman that she drives her husband to the arms of her assistant and alienates her only daughter. We see her on television as a very attractive woman who is knowledgeable about every detail of homemaking, yet she could not create a warm and lovely home for her own family.
That brings up the question -- what is success? If the answer is money in the bank, I suppose Martha Stewart is a success. If the answer is bringing laughter, joy and love to those who love you, she's a failure.
The book doesn't attempt to give a balanced point of view. Nor does it attempt to show whatever success she may have had in helping lead young homemakers (and even old ones) through the maze of "keeping house." I would have preferred a more unbiased look at her life and the result of what she's achieved as it affects her family and friends as well as herself. Do her mother, nieces and nephews really enjoy being on her TV show or are they paraded out as cynically as the author would have us believe? Therein, I think, lies the truth about who Martha Stewart really is.
On the other hand, perhaps Martha Stewart, Inc. thrives on this kind of sensationalist publicity. Readers thrive on conflict; are bored by "goody-goodies." Everyone makes more money if Martha Stewart is the Bad Girl of US business.
Sunnye Tiedemann (aka Ruth F. Tiedemann)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living O
Very Simple, Easy & Fast Reading!! I read this book in two days! Very simple, interesting and easy to read about a person who is really two different people.... MS the business women/teacher and MS the person/friend/neighbor, etc. I really wanted to know more about MS the CEO of MSLO and how this company really operates. Instead the author tells you not to be fooled into believing that she has done or can do all that is stated in this book. People who think that she has done all of this stuff must be dreaming. The author tells about how her staff makes her look really good and her relationships with her family, friends and business dealing. He does give her full credit for having the ability to hirer people to make her look so great!! The main thing that the author states in this book was not to be fooled by Martha into buying into the MSLO Company because Martha is the only asset! If something happens to MS, CEO of MSLO, where is the company headed but down. Do you think that this company would last very long without Martha? MSLO INC. would not be Living but Dead in a very short time and so could your stock investment according to the author. Similar Products
Martha Stewart: Successful Businesswoman
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