Stimulating and entertaining, Sotheby’s brings to life the personalities and shrewd business sense operating behind the glitz and glamour of the world’s oldest and richest auction house. Reporting from within on famous sales of the recent past, and charting the impact of a succession of clever and colorful entrepreneurs who have known how to sniff out the deals of the moment, Robert Lacey brilliantly reveals how Sotheby’s responds to a much greater need than that of connoisseurs buying works of art—the bidding for class.