02/07/2022
A deal-making guru bargains with the world in this wry and affectionate biography. Journalist and editor Cohen (Sweet and Low) profiles his father, Herb Cohen, author of the bestselling business self-help title You Can Negotiate Anything, an adviser to the Reagan administration in arms negotiations with the Soviets, and the popularizer of the phrase “win-win.” In Cohen’s telling, Herbie is a latter-day Buddha preaching a detached philosophy of life as an all-encompassing negotiation in which one should “care, but not that much.” A consummate operator, he’s forever getting friends out of jams, bluffing his way into snooty restaurants sans reservations, and overflowing with wised-up aphorisms (“The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights”). Full of vivid characterizations and sly wit (Herbie insisted on rewriting his son’s grade-school reports, “which explains the frequent mention of Bensonhurst and the Brooklyn Dodgers in my schoolwork”), the book also reads as a classic Jewish American striver’s saga, following Herbie from prewar Brooklyn—where his pals included future talk show legend Larry King—to the blandness of Chicago’s suburbs, to Florida’s retiree purgatory. His successes breed neuroses, including an ironically “over-caring” obsession with a bogus plagiarism lawsuit that he battled for years instead of negotiating a win-win settlement. This is a rich and beguiling homage to a larger-than-life father. Photos. (May)
"[A] wildly entertaining story of a man with boundless energy and philosophical pizazz." —Rick Kogan, The Chicago Tribune
"[A] treat of a new book . . . Rich Cohen writes lovingly of his father’s 'love of bull—.' But the accumulated wit and wisdom of Herb Cohen scattered through the book reveals instead a keen grasp of human frailty and a gift for aphorism no less valid for its glibness. . . It’s essentially the saga of a remarkable man who’s fond of saying 'The meaning of life . . . is more life' and knows what he’s talking about." —Edward Kosner, The Wall Street Journal
"Wry and affectionate . . . This is a rich and beguiling homage to a larger-than-life father." —Publishers Weekly
"[Rich] Cohen, who has written about baseball, football, Jewish gangsters, and kids' hockey, offers an affectionate portrait of his remarkable father, as amusing as it is tender . . . A thoroughly entertaining combination of memoir and biography." —Kirkus Reviews
04/02/2022
Family has been a fertile topic for Rich Cohen. Having tackled his mother's irascible clan in Sweet and Low (his grandfather created the artificial sweetener Sweet 'N Low) and his own parenthood in Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent, the author here turns his eye to his father Herb Cohen—dubbed "the world's best negotiator" by Playboy magazine in 1980. Cohen traces how a Jewish kid from Brooklyn became the man who handled negotiations for top corporations and two U.S. presidents. Herb always followed three simple principles, the book explains: care, but not too much; never negotiate for yourself; and understand every player in the game has something at stake. Well aware of his father's foibles and flaws, author Cohen effectively balances rackety anecdotes about his father roaming his childhood patch of Bensonhurst with Sandy Koufax and Zeke the Greek (later and better known as Larry King) and coaching ragtag U.S. Army basketball on the German front during World War II. He also thoughtfully looks at how Herb Cohen's personality and antics translated into being a father, and how his high-profile career affected his wife and family. VERDICT A fast-paced, clear-eyed view of a colorful character and a complicated father. Any library with Rich Cohen's other works (or Herb Cohen's best seller You Can Negotiate Anything) will find this a solid add for their collections.—Kathleen McCallister
2022-02-15
The eventful life of a renowned strategist.
Rolling Stone contributing editor Cohen, who has written about baseball, football, Jewish gangsters, and kids hockey, offers an affectionate portrait of his remarkable father, as amusing as it is tender. Brooklyn-born Herb Cohen, the son of “uneducated Polish émigrés,” worked his way up from insurance agent to become an internationally acclaimed expert in the art of the deal. A sought-after speaker, he gave as many as 250 presentations per year in boardrooms, at conventions, and in university lecture halls. He consulted at the departments of State, Justice, and Treasury and at the CIA. He taught FBI agents how to negotiate with terrorists, and he advised Jimmy Carter about negotiating with Iran during the hostage crisis. In 1980, he shared his insights in a self-help book, You Can Negotiate Anything: How To Get What You Want, which sold more than 1 million copies. “At the core,” his son writes, “all his lessons were about the same thing: empowerment. He tried to wake people up to the power they had without knowing it. He especially loved advising the underdog, the self-defeated who has been crushed by the institution, the machine.” Cohen recounts his father’s adolescence in Bensonhurst, where he was part of a raucous yet harmless gang that called itself the Warriors. Among its members was Larry Zeiger, who grew up to become Larry King. All the boys took nicknames: Herb’s was Handsomo. He was “a Damon Runyon character, a street corner raconteur,” and a man “of tremendous appetites. For comedy, success, love, and food. He was one of those human yo-yos who can gain or drop a hundred pounds in a few months. Binge and fast. Consume and forsake. Sin and repent.” A son, brother, husband, and father, Herb was, above all, someone who could never ignore a chance to stand up to authority; he was happiest, his son observed, as “a freelance injustice fighter.”
A thoroughly entertaining combination of memoir and biography.
Actor Paul Adelstein narrates in a way that Brooklyn-born Herb Cohen might have sounded in his prime: confident, strong, and with a hint of know-it-all impatience. With Adelstein’s clear vocal tone and unwavering clarity, he is a wonderful choice to narrate these sharp-witted anecdotes about a unique American personality. The son of Jewish immigrants, Cohen was trained as an attorney but became an expert on negotiating—the art of “caring about your interests, but not too much.” The author, Herb’s son and a prolific nonfiction author, writes with a similar New York City vibe, a crisp style that is full of energy and well-crafted observations. With rich lessons and colorful family stories, this is an entertaining glimpse of one man’s life and legacy. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Actor Paul Adelstein narrates in a way that Brooklyn-born Herb Cohen might have sounded in his prime: confident, strong, and with a hint of know-it-all impatience. With Adelstein’s clear vocal tone and unwavering clarity, he is a wonderful choice to narrate these sharp-witted anecdotes about a unique American personality. The son of Jewish immigrants, Cohen was trained as an attorney but became an expert on negotiating—the art of “caring about your interests, but not too much.” The author, Herb’s son and a prolific nonfiction author, writes with a similar New York City vibe, a crisp style that is full of energy and well-crafted observations. With rich lessons and colorful family stories, this is an entertaining glimpse of one man’s life and legacy. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine