Monster trucks & hair-in-a-can

the long version

From the Emmy Award-winning CBS correspondent and best-selling author of Little League Confidential comes a hilarious look at modern American entrepreneurship. For many years, Bill Geist has been exploring the quirks and glories of this country, and he's here to tell you: America is still the land of opportunity. That's right! Where else could Bob Chandler make a fortune by inventing that huge-wheeled, car-crushing, eardrum-blasting behemoth of the arena - the monster truck? Where else could Carlotta Robinson become queen of the multimillion-dollar sport of. . . pig racing ("People eat it up")? Where else would you find Hardy Warren, dean of the dog-eat-dog California traffic school industry; Jim Reid, the Used Golf Ball King of Florida (and Therefore the World); bogologist Randy Spraggins; tourism virtuoso Gary Calvert; Hal Schlenger, inventor of the Fish Channel ("You have to understand the entertainment value of fish"); and of course, the legendary Ron Popeil, he of the Pocket Fisherman, Veg-O-Matic, and hair-in-a-can? Only here. . These are entrepreneurial pioneers all, making their way in postindustrial America with ingenuity, individuality, and often just that dash of courage/craziness necessary for those who must step outside the corporate structure and do what they want to do. With wit and warmth, in a book of pure delight, Bill Geist proves that the American dream is alive and well and just a tad warped. Who says America doesn't make anything anymore?