Briefly noted.(four books)(Brief Article)

Publication: The New Yorker

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COPYRIGHT 2002 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Martha Inc., by Christopher M. Byron (Wiley; $27.95). Though gleefully heralded in the press as a hatchet job, this biography of Martha Stewart turns out to be surprisingly evenhanded. The author's mixture of distaste and respect for his subject is informed by his own contact with her: nodding acquaintances for years, they briefly were friends after Byron wrote an admiring article. But when his questions headed in uncomfortable directions Stewart's enthusiasm for the book turned to hostility. Byron, a business columnist for the Post, is most persuasive when he describes her professional maneuverings --...

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