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Donald Trump
Book

Donald Trump

Master Apprentice

Simon & Schuster, 2005 更多详情

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Background

Recommendation

Becoming a successful real estate developer in New York, one of America’s most difficult cities, requires laser focus and ruthless tactics. So that’s what Donald Trump and, to a lesser degree his father, Fred, brought to the job as they rose to power and fame. Journalist Gwenda Blair does a masterful, thoroughly reported job of describing the various forces, conflicts of interest, power plays, politics, personalities and near-criminal behavior that resulted in three FBI investigations (but no indictments) of Trump’s various real estate deals. Blair provides insights about the family relationships and friendships that shaped Trump’s personality and his business. This is a careful study of the underside of the real estate development business and what it really takes to get big projects done in complex political and financial environments. Would most corporate managers find this book useful? Certainly. getAbstract thinks it provides fuel for thought and a new perspective on being relentless and persistent, as well as being pretty clear about the downside of lying and of having what Donald Trump himself calls a “killer instinct.”

Summary

The Competitor

Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946, the fourth child of Fred and Mary Trump. Fred was a successful residential real estate developer in Queens, New York. By the time their fifth child came in 1948, the family was living in a 23-room house with nine bathrooms. They had a chauffer, a live-in maid and two Cadillac limousines.

Fred was a hard worker who spent long hours and weekends supervising projects and getting his hands dirty on construction sites. He started in real estate during the Depression. The construction company he worked for closed. While he was working in a supermarket, Fred used stationery illustrated with a line drawing of a bungalow to write to a local bank. He embroidered his real estate experience to demonstrate that he could manage mortgages. Doing jobs for the bank gave him the experience he needed later to work with foreclosed properties administered by the Federal Housing Administration.

As a boy, Donald showed characteristics that helped him thrive amid competition. He visited properties with his father and saw how Fred’s formal approach to his workers and his focus on details generated respect. Fred’s relentless, tough...

About the Author

Gwenda Blair, the author of the bestseller, Almost Golden, has written for The New York Times, New York, Newsweek, the New York Daily News, Esquire, Smart Money, The Village Voice and other newspapers and magazines. She teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. This book is an adaptation and update of her earlier book, The Trumps.


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