Love her or hate her, the story of Martha Stewart and the history of her company are incredible. From the suburban kitchens of Connecticut to the boardrooms of Wall Street, her story is filled with power, drama, conflict, and tragedy. In this updated, new paperback, business writer and columnist ChristopherByron details the mostrecent events involving Martha Stewart. He gives you the inside story of Martha's most horrible year, with head-lines of possible insider trading and obstruction of justice, accompanied by the roller-coaster plunge in her company's stock, and the deepening uncertainties regarding the future of her relationship with Kmart.

It was 5:30 A.M. on a June morning in midtown Manhattan, and on Madison Avenue about the only signs of life came from a sanitation truck that slowly worked its way up the street. Every half-block or so the truck would stop, its brakes screeching in the damp air that clung to the pavement. Then two men at the back would hop off and begin collecting the plastic garbage bags that are the by-product of successful commerce on one of the world's fanciest shopping boulevards.

It can get hot in New York in June, really hot, as anyone who hasn't left already for the Shore (or the Hamptons, or upstate) will tell you. And in the predawn hours of this particular day in late June, one group of New Yorkers was feeling the heat already.

PROLOGUE

NANCY DREW AND THE CASE OF THE

HIDDEN CHILDHOOD

A MODEL LIFE

To WALL STREET

THE PAGE TURNS

A NASCENT EMPIRE: THE MARTHA

MOMENT IS BORN

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

MAKING THE BEST-SELLER LIST

KMART CALLS

HOW TO NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT

STRATEGY: GET OTHERS TO PAY

CONTROLLING THE STRESS LINES

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

TIME TAKES MARTHA

MARTHA TAKES TV

IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN

SCHEMING TIMES

A TAXING SITUATION

TIME TAKES A LICKING

LABOR RELATIONS

WHEN BEING IN THE PUBLIC EYE IS NOT

A GOOD THING

FROM WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET

To THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

SOURCE NOTES

INDEX