Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1A Kid from East Baltimore

Chapter 2Lewis’s “Demon Work Ethic”: The High School Years

Chapter 3“I’m Going to Be a Millionaire”: Lewis at Virginia State

Chapter 4No Application Needed: Breaking Down the Doors of Harvard Law

Chapter 5Building His Own Law Practice: The Years of Struggle

Chapter 6“Masterful” Man: Winning Loida Nicolas

Chapter 7“I Was Not Ready”

Chapter 8Drexel, the Bear, and the $18 Million Race: Closing the McCall Pattern Deal

Chapter 9Piloting McCall for a 90-to-1 Gain

Chapter 10The Biggest Deal of All: The Billion-Dollar LBO of Beatrice

Chapter 11International Headaches and Domestic Roadblocks

Chapter 12Bravura and Brinksmanship: Closing the Beatrice Acquisition

Chapter 13Taming a Business Behemoth

Chapter 14A Door to a New Universe

Chapter 15Connoisseur, Philanthropist, Citizen of the World

Chapter 16“I Am Not Afraid of Death”

Epilogue

Sources Interviewed

Index