cover image Whn Smrt Peop Fail

Whn Smrt Peop Fail

Carole Hyatt. Simon & Schuster, $16.45 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-671-61941-1

Hyatt (The Women's Selling Game and Gottlieb (Limbo here explore the effects of failure on people in success-oriented America. Interviewing men and women in various fields, they glean interesting information from those who accepted defeat only temporarily. Exemplifying ""hidden failures,'' Clare Boothe Luce regrets that she abandoned her real interest, writing, for political roles; conversely George McGovern considers himself the winner over Richard Nixon, who defeated him for the presidency. Among those who offer advice on starting over is William L. Shirer: fired from his job as a reporter for being ``too liberal,'' he went on to write such notable books as The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Shirer makes the cogent observation that success or failure aren't at issue but ``whether you are a learner or non-learner.'' (April)