Trammell Crow, Master Builder: The Story of America's Largest Real Estate Empire

The international Dallas-based empire built by charismatic real-estate mogul Crow dwarfs the holdings of tycoons such as William Zeckendorf and Donald Trump, according to this entertaining chronicle by business columnist Sobel ( The Big Board ). The success of Crow, a former accountant with no real-estate experience or training in architecture, was due in large measure to his practice of involving his associates as full partners in a wide range of commercial and residential projects, in return for equity, Sobel maintains. He traces the evolution of Crow's enterprises from a loose, weblike network in 1948 into the more structured, centralized corporate entity required by the altered economic conditions of the mid-1970s. Major ad/promo. (Aug.)