Billy, Alfred, and General Motors

This book 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 changes in business, industry, politics, and culture.

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.

In Billy, Alfred, and General Motors, business leaders and history buffs alike will discover:

• timeless lessons,
• cautionary tales,
• and motivational inspiration.

The book includes vivid, warts-and-all portraits of the legends of the golden age of the automobile, from 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.