Browse Categories

Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History

In Association with
  • List Price: $27.95
  • Our Price: $18.45
  • You save: $9.50 (34 %)
  • Studio: AMACOM
  • Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
  • Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars
Buy from Amazon.com
 

Product Details

Editorial Reviews

Product Description: One industry has had more impact on life in America than any other before or since. Here is the story of two men and one company at the start of it all.

You couldn't find two more different men. Billy Durant was the consummate salesman, a brilliant wheeler-dealer with grand plans, unflappable energy, and a fondness for the high life. Alfred Sloan was the intellectual, an expert in business strategy and management, master of all things organizational. Together, this odd couple built perhaps the most successful enterprise in U.S. history, General Motors, and with it an industry that has come to define modern life throughout the world. Their story is full of timeless lessons, cautionary tales, and inspiration for business leaders and history buffs alike.

Billy, Alfred, and General Motors is the tale not just of the two extraordinary men of its title but also of the formative decades of twentieth-century America, through two world wars and sea changes in business, industry, politics, and culture. The book includes vivid, warts-and-all portraits of the legends of the golden age of the automobile, from "Crazy" Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, and Charles Nash to the brilliant but uncredited David Dunbar Buick and Cadillac founder Henry Leland.

The impact of Durant and Sloan on their contemporaries and their industry is matched only by the powerful legacy of their improbable and incredible partnership. Characters, events, and context--all are brought skillfully and passionately to life in this meticulously researched and supremely readable book.

"This book is particularly timely, with the auto industry in a period of extreme turbulence that features a restructuring of General Motors, as well as other icons of times gone by. In a sense, we may be reliving in the 21st century the auto drama of the 20th century portrayed so well by Bill Pelfrey. The author's outstanding writing and research skills are evident throughout and make this one of the most important and fascinating books I've read in a very long time." -- David E. Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research

"Every person who is interested in the building of the American automobile industry must read this book. Bill Pelfrey has done a great job researching the early years of Billy Durant and Alfred Sloan and the very different roles they played in the history of General Motors." -- Jack Smith, retired Chairman and CEO, General Motors Corporation

"Anyone interested in the current story of General Motors should read this engrossing description of the beginnings and early growth of this largest of all America's businesses. Billy, Alfred, and the General is an important work on the history of the automobile industry." -- John G. Smale, retired Chairman and CEO, Procter and Gamble Company; former Chairman, General Motors Corporation

"The challenges faced by Durant, Sloan, and others in the automotive industry 100 years ago are as relevant as ever today: managing through varying leadership styles; ensuring the ability to adapt to a changing business environment; maintaining cash flow during downturns. This book highlights both their successes and failures, and it should be read by managers everywhere." -- Ira M. Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal and Manges; Visiting Professor in Competitive Enterprise and Strategy, Yale School of Management; Special Adviser to the World Bank on Corporate Governance

"To understand where General Motors is going, you must first understand where it has been. The who and why of it all is beautifully described, anecdote by anecdote, by Pelfrey in this fascinating read. Magnificently researched." -- Gerald C. Meyers, Professor of Management, University of Michigan (Ross) Business School; former Chairman and CEO, American Motors Corporation

Customer Reviews

 
A Good Book about GM is a Good Book about America
Reviewer: J. head (littlteton, nh USA), Date of review: February 04, 2010
Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars
Very impressive journalistic skills on the part of the author, well researched. The result of scouring memoires, minutes of meetings, company archives, and where records did not exist actually contacting board members still alive from that era.
The author compares the dawning of the automobile era to the late dotcom era, and the similarities are striking. A time when new commercial ventures bring out maverick geniuses, creating and managing by intuition. Some were destined to win big, and the book shows how over time an enterprise matures and settles for leadership from financial and managerial professionals. This book provides a Who's Who of movers and shakers in the beginning of the 20th century, the Morgan's and the DuPont's seeking financial security and investment returns versus a host of entrepreneurs. This book tells the beginnings of what would later be common names across the U.S. Names such as Cadillac, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Delco, and includes short biographies of Walter Chrysler, the Dodge Brothers and of course the famous ringleader, Billy Durant. Billy Durant was the man who conceived General Motors, later ousted by GM's Board of Directors during an economic downturn. Undaunted Billy Durant started Chevrolet and leveraged that corporation to win back control of GM only to lose it again to professional management teams. The book covers the time period when the different divisions of GM had different corporate cultures, and the philosophy of forming a vertical corporation was paramount.
Many readers that work for large corporations will see practices and management initially formed by GM management has affected and been adopted by most every large corporation in the world. This book should be read by every Business major for the lessons it provides.
Pretty Good Insightful GM book ...
Reviewer: Jose Lopez (Miami,Florida USA), Date of review: January 24, 2009
Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars
As Far How it was managed, About Billy Durant and How Brilliant he was, and Alfred Sloan As well(Of Course how Shrewd he was and straight to the point). The Battles, The Stuffy Bankers who tried to Control GM,(JPMorgan), The Duponts, etc. Must Read!
Billy Durant and General Motors.
Reviewer: David McGowan , Date of review: May 12, 2007
Avg. Customer Rating: 4 Stars
This is a pretty good book, and gives basic knowledge about how GM was formed. This is one of the few books on the market that you can talk about when someone is purchasing a car, and the history of the company is different than I had expected. The book focused most of the attention on Billy Durant, instead of Alfred Sloan, which in turn made the title more interesting. It is a good story about how one mans drive can change the world as we know it, and it can also ruin him. I would recommend this book to a friend or relitive. But it gets a bit hard to hang in there for the last chapter or so (at least I thought so).
Billy, Alfred and General Motors
Reviewer: Joseph R. Pugia (Boston, MA), Date of review: February 25, 2007
Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Billy Durant, what a man, not only a visionary with amazing ablities, but one who believe in the worth of the common man.

Where would Nash, Chevrolet, the Dodges , Chrysler , the Leland's, the DuPont's and yes Sloan, who was disloyal and stabbed him in the back without Billy Durant?

This book proves the established fact of business, that bankers, both direct and investment, stock sellers and so call money people can't built anything for all their money.

A great book on American business.

JRP
Lively look at the dueling leaders who launched GM
Reviewer: Rolf Dobelli (Switzerland), Date of review: November 23, 2006
Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

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.