The Pursuit of Happyness

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Will Smith,"The Pursuit of Happyness"is the inspiring, rags-to-riches story of the charismatic Chris Gardner - a once homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street. At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him homeless with his toddler son. Instead of giving in to despair, the two spent almost a year moving from shelters,"HO-tels", and soup-lines, even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station - ultimately making an astonishing transformation from the bathroom to the boardroom.

The Pursuit of Happyness is the powerfully inspiring story of Chris Gardner, a homeless father turned millionaire who refused to let his dire circumstances define him. Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of San Francisco''s invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district. Motivated by a promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, Gardner found himself homeless, working an incredibly demanding entry-level job in finance, and raising his toddler son alone. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness tells the story of how one man and his son navigated the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crowned prince of Wall Street ''In this stirring autobiography. . . Gardner recounts his ''long walk to Wall Street,'' a journey that took him from a childhood in the ghettos of Milwaukee to an enormously successful career as a stockbroker in New York City.''-Library Journal Freshman Common Read: University of Findlay

Autorentext

Chris Gardner is the Chief Executive of Gardner Rich & Company, a multimillion-dollar brokerage with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. An avid philanthropist and motivational speaker, Gardner is committed to many organizations—particularly those related to education—and was recently the recipient of the “Father of the Year Award” from the National Fatherhood Initiative. A Milwaukee native, Gardner has two children and resides in Chicago and New York.

Klappentext

The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street

At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station.

Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district.

More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.