The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.Įveryone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). The dearth of diaries and personal correspondence available to the author has not prevented her from writing a thoroughly enjoyable biography. Her fiscal policies were firm, and she never waivered from them: Never use another’s money, never take on a partner, and avoid the pitfalls of leveraging, overborrowing and overspending. Green emerged from multiple financial disasters-e.g., in 1873, 18-richer than before, always buying as others panicked and selling when prices finally recovered. She enjoyed the game of business, especially beating out her rivals.
She always kept a great deal of cash at the ready in order to quickly take advantage of a good buy, and she never bought anything until she had thoroughly investigated every aspect of it.
When her husband needed a bailout from one of his ill-advised speculations, she demanded his properties in return. Green gave freely to charities of her choice but ruthlessly foreclosed when a note was due and unpaid. Her Quaker background taught her how to be independent and make business decisions, and she never wasted her time and especially not her money on the foolishness of the Gilded Age. She particularly notes the many references to her miserliness and how the same qualities were seen as mere eccentricity in men. Wallach ( Seraglio, 2003, etc.) frequently points out that Green’s methods and philosophy of wealth were remarkably similar to that of Warren Buffett.
The transporting tale of Hetty Green, who, after being rejected by her parents, learned business from her grandfather and amassed a fortune valued at $100 million in 1916.
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