My Koch Research Fellows,
Jomana Krupinski and Kaitlyn Pytlak, and I conducted a
survey of 250 Business and Economics professors and 250
English and Literature professors.
Colleges
and universities were randomly selected and then professors
from the relevant departments were also randomly selected to
receive our email survey. They were asked to list and rank
from 1 to 10 what they considered to be the best novels and
plays about business.
We did not attempt to define the word "best," leaving that
decision up to each respondent. We obtained 69 usable
responses from Business and Economics professors and
51 from English and Literature professors.
A list of 50 choices was given to each respondent and an
opportunity was presented to vote for works not on the list.
When tabulating the results, ten points were given to a
novel or play in a respondent's first position, nine points
were assigned to a work in the second position, and so on,
down to the tenth listed work which was allotted one point.
The table below presents the top 25 novels and
plays for each group of professors. Interestingly, fifteen
works made both top 25 lists. These are noted in bold type.
|
Business and Economics Professors |
|
English and Literature Professors |
|
|
01. Atlas
Shrugged, Ayn Rand |
457 |
01. Death
of a Salesman, Arthur Miller |
282 |
|
02. The
Fountainhead, Ayn Rand |
297 |
02. Bartleby: The Scrivener, Herman
Melville |
259 |
|
03. The
Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald |
216 |
03. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott
Fitzgerald |
231 |
|
04. Death
of a Salesman, Arthur Miller |
164 |
04. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair |
143 |
|
05. Time
Will Run Back, Henry Hazlitt |
145 |
05. Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis |
126 |
|
06. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair |
136 |
06. Glengarry Glen Ross, David
Mamet |
121 |
|
07. The Gilded Age, Mark Twain and
Charles Dudley Warner |
95 |
07. The
Rise of Silas Lapham, William Dean Howells |
98 |
|
08. Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet |
89 |
08. American Pastoral, Philip Roth |
85 |
|
09. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr. |
57 |
09. The Confidence Man, Herman Melville |
75 |
|
10.
Other People’s Money, Jerry Sterner |
57 |
10.
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand |
75 |
|
11.
Bartleby: The Scrivener, Herman
Melville |
55 |
11.
A Hazard of New Fortunes, William Dean
Howells |
66 |
|
12.
A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe |
48 |
12.
The Octopus, Frank Norris |
65 |
|
13.
Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis |
47 |
13.
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand |
62 |
|
14.
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan
Wilson |
43 |
14.
Nice Work, David Lodge |
62 |
|
15.
Rabbit is Rich, John Updike |
41 |
15.
The Big Money, John Dos Passos |
59 |
|
16.
Major Barbara, George Bernard Shaw |
39 |
16.
The Gilded Age, Mark Twain and Charles
Dudley Marner |
58 |
|
17.
Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens |
33 |
17.
Rabbit is Rich, John Updike |
55 |
|
18.
The Goal, Eliyahu M. Goldratt |
33 |
18.
Seize the Day, Saul Bellow |
55 |
|
19.
The Driver, Garet Garrett |
32 |
19.
Mildred Pierce, James M. Gain |
54 |
|
20.
Executive Suite, Cameron Hawley |
32 |
20.
The Financier, Theodore Dreiser |
53 |
|
21.
The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope |
32 |
21.
Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens |
51 |
|
22.
American Pastoral, Philip Roth |
29 |
22.
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey |
45 |
|
23.
The Octopus, Frank Norris |
29 |
23.
The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald |
44 |
|
24.
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey |
28 |
24.
The Moviegoer, Walker Percy |
43 |
|
25.
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell |
27 |
25.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr. |
39 |
