A.C. Gilbert is a legend in these parts, born and raised in Salem, where he developed a passion for competition and innovation and launched his first business enterprise. He is most famous for winning ...

THE MAN WHO CHANGED HOW BOYS AND TOYS WERE MADE By Bruce Watson Viking. 216 pp. $24.95 The title of Bruce Watson's strange little biography of Alfred C. Gilbert may seem hyperbolic, but it is entirely ...