Title: The Pacesetter
Author: Jerry M. Fisher
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 978-1460245361
Pages: 552,Paperback
Genre: Biography
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
The Pacesetter tells the story of Carl Fisher, a truly unsung hero. Fisher created the Indy 500, but never received the full credit he deserved. Now his story is finally told by one of his surviving relatives, Jerry M. Fisher. Fisher tells the story of an entrepreneur who’s not a household name- but he should be.
Carl Fisher was an enterprising man who grew from a working-class upbringing in 1870’s Indiana to being a self-made millionaire businessman. Fisher turned his love of racing cars into building a racecourse that became the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While many thought he was foolish, the Indy 500 became one of the biggest races in the world. He then took on another impossible dream when he turned Miami Beach from a dry swampland to a vacation destination for everyone from golfer Bobby Jones to President Warren G. Harding.
Jerry Fisher captures Carl’s driven spirit well in The Pacesetter. Fisher’s meticulous details of the circumstances that moved Carl from one adventurous business venture to another shows how inspired he was to overcome his tumultuous upbringing and make himself a successful industrialist. The archival letters and pictures in the book add to the historical accuracy of The Pacesetter.
Fisher also shows how Carl Fisher was not only a shrewd businessman, but an unlikely advocate for civil rights. Carl Fisher fought against racism towards his African-American employees in Indiana and anti-Semitism in Miami. Carl seemed to live by the inspirational saying he memorized: “Happiness is the only good… the time to be happy is now… the way to be happy is to make others so.”
While The Pacesetter shows the innovative and compassionate side of Carl Fisher, Jerry Fisher presents a warts-and-all biography that presents the complex side of his life. Fisher unflinchingly deals with Carl’s alcoholism and turbulent marriage with a discerning and objective voice.
Readers who want to read about under-the-radar visionaries in American history will love The Pacesetter. Jerry Fisher’s sympathetic and comprehensive portrayal of Carl will engage readers that want an entertaining look at the past. While Carl Fisher has been featured on PBS’s American Experience, Carl Fisher’s larger-than –life persona could also be made into a biographical movie for history buffs.
The Pacesetter would be perfect for fans of historical biographers like David McCullough, who turned John Adams from a historical footnote to a cultural icon. Jerry Fisher could do the same for Carl Fisher with The Pacesetter.
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