Synopses & Reviews
This is the epic saga of the American automobile industry's rise and demise, a compelling story of hubris, denial, missed opportunities, and self-inflicted wounds that culminates with the president of the United States ushering two of Detroit's Big Three car companies—once proud symbols of prosperity—through bankruptcy. The cost to American taxpayers topped $100 billion—enough to buy every car and truck sold in America in the first half of 2009. With unprecedented access, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Ingrassia takes us from factory floors to small-town dealerships to Detroit's boardrooms to the inner sanctums of the White House. He reveals why President Barack Obama personally decided to save Chrysler when many of his advisors opposed the idea. Ingrassia provides the dramatic story behind Obama's dismissal of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner and the angry reaction from GM's board—the same people who had watched idly while the company plunged into penury.
In Crash Course, Ingrassia answers the big questions: Was Detroit's self-destruction inevitable? What were the key turning points? Why did Japanese automakers manage American workers better than the American companies themselves did? He also describes dysfunctional corporate cultures (even as GM's market share plunged, the company continued business as usual) and Detroit's perverse system of "inverse layoffs" (which allowed union members to invoke seniority to avoid work). Along the way we meet Detroit's frustrated reformers and witness the wrenching decisions that Ford executives had to make to avoid GM's fate.
Informed by Ingrassia's twenty-five years of experience covering the auto industry for The Wall Street Journal, and showing an appreciation for Detroit's profound influence on our country's society and culture, Crash Course is a uniquely American and deeply instructive story, one not to be missed.
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
"Obama auto czar Rattner delivers a vigorous account of the bailout of the automobile industry -- a success, though one fraught with controversy... A fine inside-baseball account of how things can get done when people agree to get them done, even in Washington." --Kirkus Reviews
"OVERHAUL is filled with delicious descriptions of what happened behind the scenes in the White House and at the Treasury Department as the effort to save GM and Chrysler unfolded... a riveting read." --Wall Street Journal
"Required reading." --New York Times
"[a] compelling story about how government reacts to economic crisis...Rattner's book is an extraordinary account of how government, brandishing the stick of bankruptcy, was able in a few months to accomplish tremendous restructuring of a major American industry in ways that had eluded the private sector for half a century or more. (His material on GM's clueless management is truly priceless.)" --Slate.com
"Unquestionably the best book so far about the Obama presidency" --Slate.com
"[OVERHAUL] offers a careful, but lively, account of the auto industry bailout. Rattner takes us from the very beginning, when the Bush Administration was still in charge and two Detroit automakers were on the verge of total collapse, almost until the present day, when one of the companies (General Motors) seems to be thriving and the other (Chrysler) seems at least to be surviving." --NewRepublic.com
"While there have been other books about the Obama administration, this is the first from the inside and it is full of glimpses behind the curtain that we usually have to wait four years to see….The best parts of “Overhaul” are the vivid pictures Rattner paints of the economic team.” -Bloomberg News
“Steven Rattner shows a journalist's eye for detail….OVERHAUL is a feast of political and financial intrigue.” - Detroit Free Press
"With lively reconstructions of meetings in the Oval Office, Rattner shows the struggle over whether government should intervene….persuasive…illuminating…After Team Auto, GM has a much cleaner balance sheet and is set for a stock market flotation before theend of the year. The government might well get its money back. So those who think Obama is bad for business should read Overhaul. But anyone who believes in the fiction of arms-length government investment will find some corrective facts, too." -- Financial Times
"Overhaul" is not a Washington memoir, even though it is set in Washington, and it involves one of the most deeply politicized issues in recent memory. It is a Wall Street memoir, a book about one of the biggest private-equity deals in history....unexpectedly fascinating" - Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
"Overhaul is required reading to understand the auto industry." - Motor Trend
"[a] surprisingly modest account…Rattner has a journalistic talent for the telling detail, resulting in a memorable tale of life in the middle of the economic meltdown….Rattner deftly draws portraits of the inhabitants of "the Oval" and the West Wing….Rattner has proved himself a gifted chronicler." - Time Magazine
"[Rattner] writes lucidly and does a good job of balancing reportage and opinion. He gives us a useful record of both what the auto bailout looked like from inside the process and what the U.S. government looks like -- when it's working and when it is not. From both angles, this is a comprehensive, useful and readable look under the hood." - Knowledge@Wharton (UPenn)
Synopsis
With an updated Afterword by the author
This is the epic saga of the American automobile industry’s rise and demise, a compelling story of hubris, missed opportunities, and self-inflicted wounds that culminates with the president of the United States ushering two of Detroit’s Big Three car companies—once proud symbols of prosperity—through bankruptcy. With unprecedented access, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Ingrassia takes us from factory floors to small-town dealerships to Detroit’s boardrooms to the White House. Ingrassia answers the big questions: Was Detroit’s self-destruction inevitable? What were the key turning points? Why did Japanese automakers manage American workers better than the American companies themselves did? Complete with a new Afterword providing fresh insights into the continuing upheaval in the auto industry—the travails of Toyota, the revolving-door management and IPO at General Motors, the unexpected progress at Chrysler, and the Obama administration’s stake in Detroit’s recovery—Crash Course addresses a critical question: America bailed out GM, but who will bail out America?
Synopsis
The inside story of how the Obama administration masterminded the rescue of the U.S. auto industry
Synopsis
“Steven Rattner shows a journalist's eye for detail . . .
Overhaul is a feast of political and financial intrigue.” —
Detroit Free PressIn Overhaul, Steven Rattner delivers an inside account of the Obama administration's bold bid to save the auto industry. From his vantage point at the helm of the intervention, Rattner crafts a tightly plotted narrative of political brinksmanship, corporate incompetence, and personalities under pressure in a high-stakes drama of Washington and Detroit. He also explains the tough choices he and his team made to keep Chrysler and GM in operation—while working against the clock in the face of intense lobbying from staunch Democratic allies and vocal opposition from free-market partisans.
Overhaul is a candid, gripping story of one of the most difficult crises of President Obama's first year in office, with lessons relevant for all managers and executives.
“[An] exhaustive, detailed account . . . Overhaul will certainly be on the bookshelf of every bankruptcy attorney in the country, and become required reading for public policy and law students.” —New York Times
“Unquestionably the best book so far about the Obama presidency.” —Slate
With a new epilogue
About the Author
As Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Rattner led the Administrations efforts to restructure the auto industry. Prior to that, he was Managing Principal of Quadrangle Group, LLC. At Lazard Frères & Co. he was Deputy Chairman/Deputy Chief Executive Officer, after tenures at Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. He was also employed by the New York Times for nearly nine years, principally as an economic correspondent. He continues to write for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Financial Times. He lives in New York.