Product Description

With an updated Afterword by the author

This is the epic saga of the American automobile industrys 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 Detroits Big Three car companiesonce proud symbols of prosperitythrough bankruptcy. With unprecedented access, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Ingrassia takes us from factory floors to small-town dealerships to Detroits boardrooms to the White House. Ingrassia answers the big questions: Was Detroits 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 industrythe travails of Toyota, the revolving-door management and IPO at General Motors, the unexpected progress at Chrysler, and the Obama administrations stake in Detroits recovery addresses a critical question: America bailed out GM, but who will bail out America?