AHEAD OF THE CURVE Two Years at Harvard Business School

Author Philip Delves Broughton is a good writer who does not appear to have enjoyed and was not very successful at his two years at Harvard Business School. As narrator, Simon Vance takes on the persona of a very English interloper, who left his post as Paris editor for the DAILY TELEGRAPH to earn his MBA at what could be considered the most prestigious of American business schools. Using American twangs and a mishmash of accents for the international students, Vance depicts Brougham as alternately overwhelmed and smug, never quite leaving his Englishness behind. The strongest moments are the nuggets from courses on competitive strategy, marketing, finance, and even accounting, which offer the listener highlights of the business curriculum. R.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]