Edna Ferber, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Show Boat and Giant, achieved her first great success with a series of stories she published in American Magazine between 1911 and 1913. The stories featured Emma McChesney: smart, savvy, stylish, divorced mother, and Midwest traveling sales representative for T. A. Buck's Featherloom skirts and petticoats. With one hand on her sample case and the other fending off advances from salesmen, hotel clerks, and other predators, Emma holds on tightly to her reputation: honest, hardworking, and able to outsell the slickest salesman. Like her compact bag of traveling necessities, Emma has her life boiled down to essentials: her work and her seventeen-year-old son, Jock. Her experience has taught her that it's best to stick to roast beef, medium--avoiding both physical and moral indigestion--rather than experiment with fancy sauces and exotic dishes. Yet she never shies away from a challenge, and her sharp instincts and common sense serve her well in dealing with the likes of Ed Meyer, a smooth-talking, piano-playing salesman; Blanche LeHay, prima donna of the Sam Levin Crackerjack Belles; and T. A. Buck Jr., the wet-behind-the-ears son of the founder of Featherloom. Roast Beef, Medium is the first of three volumes chronicling the travels and trials of Emma McChesney. The illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg, one of the most highly regarded book illustrators of the period, enhance both the humor and the vivid characterization in this wise and high-spirited tale.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Roast Beef, Medium: The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney" by Edna Ferber. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Witty, sharp, and confident, Emma McChesney is a fierce heroine. Following a bitter divorce, she sets out against all odds as a travelling saleswoman so she can support herself and her son. Roast Beef, Medium - The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney is the first book in Edna Ferber’s trilogy. It’s 1911, and our 36-year-old heroine has just struggled through an awful divorce. Now alone with her 17-year-old son, Jock, Emma McChesney becomes the only travelling saleswoman for a New York skirts and petticoats company, T. A. Buck’s Featherbloom Petticoats. Her life suddenly revolves around train journeys and dirty hotel stays. She must ward off her male colleagues’ unwanted advances while they persistently tell her that her career isn’t suitable for a woman. Strong-willed and sharp-tongued, Emma McChesney represents many hardworking single mothers in early twentieth-century America. First published in 1913, Edna Ferber’s comedic novel highlights her famous wit and is not to be missed by fans of her work.

Journey into the world of business with "Emma McChesney and Co" by Edna Ferber. This collection of short stories revolves around the fictitious character Emma McChesney, a businesswoman and traveling sales personnel. Ferber's engaging narratives provide a unique perspective on the challenges faced by women in the business world, making it a compelling read for fans of American literature and those interested in tales of perseverance and ambition.

"What corporations fear most are consumers who ask questions. Naomi Klein offers us the arguments with which to take on the superbrands." Billy Bragg from the bookjacket.

So Big is a 1924 novel written by Edna Ferber. The book was inspired by the life of Antje Paarlberg in the Dutch community of South Holland, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1925. The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool family farm, she encourages the young Roelf Pool to follow his interests, which include art. Upon his mother's death, Roelf runs away to France. Meanwhile, Selina marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus. They have a child together, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big," from the common question and answer "How big is baby? " "So-o-o-o big!". Pervus becomes ill and dies, and Selina is forced to take over working on the farm to give Dirk a future. As Dirk gets older, he works as an architect but is more interested in making money than creating buildings and becomes a stock broker, much to his mother's disappointment. His love interest, Dallas O'Mara, an acclaimed artist, echoes this sentiment by trying to convince Dirk that there is more to life than money. Much later in life, Selina is visited by Roelf Pool, who has since become a famous sculptor. Dirk grows very distressed when, after visiting his mother's farm, he realizes that Dallas and Roelf love each other and he cannot compete with the artistically minded sculptor. In the end, Dirk comes to appreciate the wisdom of his mother, who always valued aesthetics and beauty even as she scraped out a living in a stern Dutch community. Ultimately, Dirk is left alone in his sumptuous apartment, saddened by his abandonment of artistic values.