Books
July, 1966
"Getting and spending," wrote William Wordsworth, "we lay waste our powers." The Big Spenders (Doubleday) by Lucius Beebe—completed just before his death a few months ago—takes the other tack. It is a joyful recounting of the pleasure of ostentatious spending by those for whom getting was no longer a problem. It is filled with characters such as the tycoon who completely forgot about a railroad he owned; the lady who did not exactly recall ordering 515,000,000 worth of redeco...
