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"Business Times (New Haven, CT): ""Through the lens of history at its most gripping, this book reveals why American business needs both intuitive, risk-taking Billys and logical, bottom-line conscious Alfreds.""
ForeWord: ""The author tells an amazing story, previously largely untold...this is an illuminating, yet little known saga of the clash between eternal dreamers, inventors, tinkerers, and salesmen at the dawn of the twentieth century."""
“This fresh look at early GM is timely and interesting.”
-Corp! (Detroit)
“Pelfrey's work is both entertaining and instructive...[the] book does not predict GM's future. But it masterfully tells about GM's past and, in doing so, helps explain what recently went wrong at the company.”
-Washington Post
“entertaining and instructive… masterfully tells about GM's past and... helps explain what recently went wrong at the company.”
-Washington Post
“…easy to read and extremely well researched.”
-World Business Review
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lively look at the dueling leaders who launched GM,
This review is from: Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History (Hardcover)
In this book you'll find eccentrics, misfits and geniuses who made and lost fortunes, founded and lost companies, gained brief fame and were eventually forgotten by just about everyone except automotive industry historians. Although the book purports to focus on Billy Durant, Alfred Sloan and General Motors, its scope is actually much wider, since the evolution of the automobile industry exemplifies the evolution of U.S. industries in general. We recommend this lively, readable saga to history buffs and managers. It is a highly instructive take on the parallels between boom and bust in the car industry of the 1910s and in the high-tech industry of the 1990s.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Right Men, The Right Place, The Right Time,
By
This review is from: Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History (Hardcover)
In a week when the Nissan-Renault partnership has made a suggestion of parterning with or buying out or merging with General Motors, this book makes a timely read.
Here is the story of the men who founded the company, Sloan and Durant. They were big dreamers, held a vision of the future, and seemed to have a basic understanding of where their company and the automobile industry was going. I don't know who's in charge at GM now, but it appears that they aren't managing the company to the standard that such an icon of business should be held. Quite likely they are financial people, very knowledgable in making the company profitable this quarter (that's 'this quarter' a few years ago), but ignoring things like fuel efficiency to keep building SUVs (great profits for 'this quarter'). In their day Durant and Sloan managed through a whole series of problems. It's interesting to think about how they might have handled today's problems. The book presents a view of a time when perhaps management could make changes, when the company, the union, and the economy was different.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Billy, Alfred, and General Motors,
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This review is from: Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History (Hardcover)
This is a very fine book and very accurate accounting that went on back then. I have read all the other books on Mr. Durant and Sloans own book and find this a must read. This book also has 12 pages of great glossy pictures in it. Durant has been dead now for 59 years and they are still writing about him. One of the greatest automobile men to have lived and the most historic with him starting GM and Chevrolet. List price is 27.95 and now only $8.40 on Amozon.com. Brand new book just out here in 2006. Lance Haynes President Durant Motors Automobile Club San Diego, Ca.
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