The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway

Down on your luck? Don't despair. You might still be headed for the top! After all, consider the experiences of: Marilyn Monroe, who in 1947, after one year under contract, was dropped by 20th Century Fox because the production chief thought she was unattractive; Walt Disney, whose first cartoon production company went bankrupt; Johnny Cash, who sold electrical appliances door-to-door; Barbra Streisand, who made her stage debut aged 19 in a show that opened and closed on the same night; and John Grisham, whose first novel "A Time to Kill" was rejected by 16 agents and a dozen publishers. This is an inspiring compendium of pop culture and historical trivia to amuse those who regard their glass as half empty.