Asbestos House: The Secret History of James Hardie Industries [Paperback]

Gideon Haigh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Reconstructed from hundreds of hours of interviews and thousands of pages of documentation, this multi-award-winning saga of high finance is a clear depiction of industrial history, legal intrigue, medical breakthrough, and human frailty. Focusing on James Hardie Industries and the disastrous effects of asbestos in the Australian workplace, this study provides an insightful commentary on modern business ethics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A serious, sombre and, at times, heart-rending account befitting a tragic and awful story . . . At all times Haigh's research is impeccable. This is the book's great strength—it could become the reference book on all matters relating to asbestos."  —Herald Sun

"Meticulously researched and powerfully written . . . This fine book should be required reading for those who wish to understand corporate capitalism and also to promote business ethics."  —Weekend Australian

"Reads like a Greek tragedy and is as good."  —Australian Financial Review Magazine

About the Author

Gideon Haigh has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines and is the author of Bad Company: The Strange Cult of the CEO, One of a Kind: The Story of Bankers Trust Australia 1969–1999, and The Vincibles: A Suburban Cricket Season.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd. (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1921215704
• ISBN-13: 978-1921215704
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,401,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent business history, November 27, 2008

By 

Jussarian (Brisbane QLD Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asbestos House: The Secret History of James Hardie Industries (Paperback)

A surprising thing about Mr Haigh's book is the small number of villians. He concludes not that 'James Hardie knew' about the ultimate effects of asbestos, but that 'they should have known'. In its old existence as a successful asbestos company providing a popular product, the company's senior managers were tardy in keeping up with advancements in knowledge of asbestos. But they were not malicious men hiding a dark secret: they walked the factory floors themselves, could be generous to sickening workers, did not - like some of their American peers - lie to their employees and in some cases ultimately died of the blue dust too. While narrating all this Mr Haigh introduces us to many people from James Hardie's past, the progress of medical science, the business environments of the ages of the twentieth century, a tale of commercial risk and company transformation and the history of a remarkable natural resource. And he tells dolorous tales of the cruel course of asbestosis and mesothelioma on unsuspecting people.

The villainy comes later, during the age of 'shareholder value', with sharp dealing by senior managers of a company that had, in all its day to day operational aspects, completely moved on from the days of asbestos. These chapters can be heavy to read, laden with actuarial accounting, contracts and board communciations. But it is a credit to Mr Haigh's efforts that they are not too dense for the business-layman: he keeps his tale moving. Here we see the intersection of governments, law, unions and business, as well as personalities that Mr Haigh sketches deftly.

One of the pleasures of reading anything by Gideon Haigh is his wealth of anecdotes from outside his immediate subject and his lightly worn erudition: he throws the odd latin phrase in here and there, and quotes Ibsen. He can tell a good story, wring pathos from us, and bring out a 'moral of the story' concisely. The only books on cricket I am ever likely to pick up will be by Gideon Haigh.

The court case against Hardie's ex directors is still going on and we must sincerely hope that Hardie flourishes, at least for another few decades, but Asbestos House is not an incomplete story. Coming to the end of Mr Haigh's book, we feel we have followed much the most interesting part of James Hardie's tale.