The MineFields

From an early age, Sam Spiegel single-mindedly pursued an entrepreneurial path that prepared him to transform a small-time ad agency into a regional powerhouse with national ambitions. A couple decades later, Sam had achieved almost everything he ever dreamed possible as the ad agency’s rainmaker, fountainhead, and unflappable pursuer of success. One final goal remained: to consolidate his gains by attracting an international advertising conglomerate and cash out. That’s when the nation is hit with the most unthinkable tragedy, and Sam begins to take stock of his own life, finding that he is growing weary of the relentless hunt. Unsatisfied in his marriage and embroiled in a mind-boggling professional crisis, everything Sam had achieved is put at risk.

Sam Spiegel has it all: A promising career at a top Madison Avenue advertising agency, an apartment in New York City, and a beautiful wife. He also has strong family ties, so when his ailing father, Harry, recruits him to turn the family’s sleepy Philadelphia ad shop into a regional powerhouse, Sam cannot refuse. Once entrenched in reviving Spiegel Communications, Sam begins a delicate dance of power with Harry. While Sam enjoys increasing success, Harry Spiegel remains mired in old traditions and weighed down by financial worries. Sam’s wife, Amy, also joins the agency, but she deeply resents Sam’s decision to leave New York. The two struggle in their marriage, which appears to center too much on business and not enough on intimacy. It isn’t long before emotions come to a head, putting everything Sam has worked for at risk. Despite these challenges, he’s able to build an impressive ad agency, winning many prestigious national accounts. Then it all changes. In the aftermath of 9/11, an international airline account—Spiegel’s largest—finds itself in a vulnerable position. Now caught in a stunning professional reversal as his life starts a downward spiral, Sam must find his way through the minefields around him—and survive.

Before writing his novel and after learning the ropes at Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York, Steven C. Eisner created and led Eisner Communications,a Baltimore-based advertising agency, for more than two decades, creating hundreds of effective ad and PR campaigns for leading corporations and associations including Black & Decker, Marriot, McCormick Spices, PhRMA, US Airways, Lenox China, the Maryland Lottery, the Nature Conservancy, and the United Way. Eisner Communications won numerous industry awards including CLIOs, ADDYs, and EFFIEs, and the O’Toole for creative excellence across its entire client roster. THE MINEFIELDS is Eisner’s first novel.