World Gone Wild (1987) Lee H. Katzin, Bruce Dern, Michael Paré, Catherine Mary Stewart

A smarmy wallow in the sleaziest escapades of four powerful and highly visible CEOs, Byron’s latest serves up a titillating mix of snark, sanctimony and pop psychology. In his last book, the bestselling Martha, Inc., the veteran business journalist asserted that Stewart was driven by resentment toward her brutish father and her humble roots. In this new book, Byron’s analysis leads him to the loopy conclusion that his four subjects—Jack Welch, Dennis Kozlowski, Ronald Perelman and Al Dunlap—are all victims of excessive testosterone. What, Byron asks, could motivate such accomplished businessmen to jeopardize their legacies by divorcing devoted wives, siphoning corporate funds or engaging in tawdry affairs? "The answer," he eagerly insists, "lies not in their stars but in their skivvies." Though Byron examined some 15,000 documents and interviewed 90 people for this book, none of his four subjects would agree to an interview for this project, so there are no first-hand accounts to corroborate (or refute) his diagnosis.

If Good as I Been to You was a strong traditionalist folk record, World Gone Wrong was an exceptional one, boasting an exceptional set of songs given performances so fully realized that they seemed like modern protest songs. Much of this record is fairly obscure to anyone outside of dedicated folk fans; "Delia" (covered by Johnny Cash the following year) and "Stack-A-Lee" are the most familiar items, yet they're given traditional readings, meaning that the latter doesn't quite seem like "Stagger Lee."

The life story of martial arts icon and actor Bruce Lee.