FT.com reports that last Thursday my brother William D. Cohan's The Last Tycoons beat out Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence to win the 2007 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
Reportedly Greenspan had his public relations firm arrange for him to fly to London on a private jet and to have a limousine at his disposal. At the last minute Greenspan canceled his trip to London but not without preparing a video of his acceptance speech. Alas poor Alan -- his video was for naught.
While Rachel Lomax, deputy governor of the Bank of England and one of the judges, said Greenspan's book was "source material for future historians as well as an entertaining read," The Last Tycoons was judged to have provided "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues," in line with the official aim of the award.
Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein, one of the judges, praised my brother's book about Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) calling it an "insightful and vivid story" and a lesson in "how to handle big egos," while Lionel Barber, FT editor, added: "The level of research is impressive and the narrative spellbinding."
Meanwhile, Lazard continues to refer to The Last Tycoons as "substantially inaccurate." Not being a lawyer, I can't judge whether Lazard is simply exercising its freedom of speech or engaging in libel. But Lazard's long-time law firm, Wachtell Lipton, bought 100 copies of the book. If Wachtell was combing through the book to find material on which to base a lawsuit, it's had six months and come up with nothing so far. Or maybe Wachtell just wanted 100 of its lawyers to learn more about the history of Lazard.
For the author's side of the story, read this fascinating interview.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.
Entrepreneur's Journal: Key steps for telesales success
The week in preview: Focus returns to earnings: Alcoa, Chevron, Family Dollar
Comfort Zone Investing: Survival of the fittest -- letting some banks fail
