The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher
Carl G. Fisher was an early 20th-century entrepreneur whose energy and gift for promotion carried him through a number of very successful and historically noteworthy ventures: He created the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway and its annual 500-mile race, and he was the motivating and organizing force behind the Lincoln Highway, the nation's first transcontinental road. Fisher seems best known as the primary developer of Miami Beach, then little more than a tropical swamp. He similarly began to develop Montauk, Long Island, before going bankrupt during the Great Depression. This portrait was written by a Fisher relative to offset a general lack of biographical information about him. (Fisher's first wife, Jane, wrote an earlier biography, Fabulous Hoosier.) Extensively researched, it gives significant detail about Fisher's projects, yet at times it reads too much like a mere gathering of facts. Nonetheless, Fisher's achievements deserve to be documented. Libraries in Indiana and South Florida ought to have this title, as should those with collections about American entrepreneurs.?David B. Van De Streek, Pennsylvania State Univ. Libs., YorkCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.