Up the Agency

In UP THE AGENCY, originally published in 1990, Peter Mayle turns his mind back to what drove him to the south of France in the first place: the advertising business, where he lost thirteen perfectly good years of his life. Once known as “the greatest copywriter alive,” Mayle’s uproarious and telling retrospective of the foibles of the ad man’s life wittily dissects this odd and fascinating industry, where clients are “pigs with checkbooks” and the speed of a new talent’s ascent can be matched only by his shocking fall months later. A sharp-edged look at an industry that brings both pleasure and pain to millions (and millions to a few), UP THE AGENCY will bring certain pleasure to devoted readers of Mayle, AD AGE, and fans of the hit television series MAD MEN. Digital and audio editions include a new foreword by the author.