Until reading this book, I was wholly unaware of efforts by General Motors' lawyers to prevent the publication of Sloan's memoir My Years with General Motors which is generally considered one of the most important business books ever written. McDonald was Sloan's ghost writer (hence the dual meaning of the book's title) and provides a compelling account of how and why the book was finally published in 1963. McDonald suggests that a study in 1921 (discussed in Sloan's memoir) recommended "covering" all prospective buyers of automobiles by designing, manufacturing, and marketing a complete line for various "price steps." In that event, GM lawyers feared, federal regulatory agencies would become involved and seek to dismantle what could be perceived as a monopoly. In 1962, McDonald initiated a lawsuit against GM. He was at that time still employed by Fortune magazine. Almost immediately, Time Inc. "entered the game", fearing loss of GM advertising. It would be a disservice to both McDonald and to those who read this review to reveal what happened next. To my surprise, the book became a "page turner" and remained so to its conclusion. McDonald tells a lively story with colorful characters, a complicated plot, all manner of crises and conflicts, subtle (and not-so-subtle) manipulations, and conflicts of interests while -- along the way -- examining a legal system exploited but which ultimately prevailed. A great read.

The frustrating thing for biographers writing about Alfred P. Sloan is the paucity of information about what made the man tick. Sloan was meticulously careful not to leave material which would provide insight into his personal life, his thoughts, or his motivations. Instead, Sloan was careful to manage information in such a way that his persona as the supremely rational corporate leader was maintained. David Farber understands that people are more complex, and he offers tantalizing hints into Sloan's motivations. Farber focuses on two important chapters in Sloan's career--his crucial role in the stabilizing of General Motors, the creation of the quixotic Billy Durant, and the impact of the New Deal on corporate America, specifically GM. As for the first, Farber details Sloan's career development after his graduation from MIT and after his father secured a position for him with Hyatt Roller Bearing Company. Hyatt's relationship with GM led Sloan to that company at a crucial point, when the DuPont family had secured their investment by forcing out Billy Durant. Sloan seemed the opposite of Durant, making decisions in a supremely rational way and focusing on the bottom line. Symbolic of this is Sloan's decision to place each car in the GM line to appeal to particular income levels. So is his development of a master plan for GM, which ultimately led the corporation to unprecedented profitability, even during the Depression.

It was the Depression and the New Deal that brought Sloan's attitude into fairly direct conflict with the likes of Franklin Roosevelt, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and labor leader John L. Lewis. Farber is clearly disappointed in the almost total lack of social consciousness exhibited by Sloan. Sloan could never understand why anyone would have a problem with the ways GM treated its production workers.

Farber has written a spare yet remarkably helpful book that is about both a man and a period in American history. Even though so little information exists about Sloan the man, Farber makes it evident that the tragedy of Sloan's life was that he never understood his own limitations. Like many rich people (he once shouted to Frances Perkins, "I am Alfred P. Sloan! I am worth seventy million dollars!"), Sloan believed himself entitled to have his way. He simply did not believe that he could be wrong. Not in anything. General Motors is still recovering from Sloan's hubris. Decades of shoddy products (Farber gives GM products more credit than I, a former owner of three Buicks each of which was worse than the last), foolish responses to criticism, failed attempts at reorganization, and similar episodes in the post-Sloan years have led GM to the point at which the new president, Bob Lutz, is more like Billy Durant. Historical irony prevails.