Behind the Curtain

This is the life story of a remarkable, self-made man, who grew up in Brooklyn. Carl Goldstein may not be famous, but he is well known in the textile industry. Despite not having a father figure in his youth, Carl demonstrated early on that he was industrious and willing to learn. He had many odd jobs, including summers working the carny circuit on Coney Island and selling ice cream on the street. When he got his first real job as a sample boy, he never looked back. He is the antithesis of Arthur Miller's tragic hero, Willie Loman. Today, he is a happy grandfather, who still makes sales calls with the vigor and enthusiasm of people half his age. As a businessman, he never ran a multibillion-dollar firm. Carl didn't go to business school and climb the corporate ladder the way others did. He was a complete non-achiever - you can almost say failure - in school. His training was entirely on the job. His 50 years in the workplace gave him invaluable experience, the kind that isn't necessarily taught in the classroom. Success is not just measured in money, it comes in many different forms and it's measured in other ways. As Carl became more successful, he gained more responsibility and covered more territory. He became not just a manager but a leader and a philanthropist. As most high-reaching executives learn, giving back is one of the great pleasures in life. Carl knows that sharing his good fortune is a reward in itself. One of his causes is the Fashion Institute of Technology, a major training ground for the future stars in the rag trade. Carl quietly confesses that one of the few goals he has not achieved was not earning a college degree. In this book, Behind the Curtain: Life of a Salesman, the author will guide you through his personal history and regale you with tales of his travels, travails and triumphs. Along the way you will read his thoughtful commentary on the state of American business, its strengths and its weaknesses. It is one of the most lucid descriptions of our extremely complicated economy that -- according to Mario Cuomo, the former three-term governor of New York - "I have ever read." By itself, this discussion makes this book a worthwhile effort.

Carl Goldstein is a professor of art at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Kress Foundation, the Howard Foundation, and the Philosophical Society of America. He has published widely, including Visual Fact over Verbal Fiction: A Study of the Carracci and the Theory, Criticism, and Practice of Painting in Renaissance and Baroque Italy and Teaching Art: Academies and Schools from Vasari to Albers.