As the US watches the CEOs of it three major auto manufacturers now in December 2008 it is truly shocking how this book, written over 20 years ago is so "right on" right how. Halberstam starts his book with predictions about limited oil and moves through describing the auto industry's mistakes, focusing on Ford. Halberstam was a real Cassandar.

Here is another Amazon review that agrees with me

Now, updating this July 2009. After watching the meltdown of Chrylsler and GM, Hlberstamp's predictions become even more ironic. He was so right.

As always with David Halberstam, this book is a monument to relentless reporting - he must surely be the most energetic reporter of our times. It presents vivid pictures of the insides of Ford and Nissan, with an eye toward developing his main theme: that America really blew it, that the Japanese are gonna take over, that the American economy is going down the tubes. Too bad that entire theme is ridiculously wrong. The book came out in 1986, just as the American economy was gearing up to reinvent itself, as it had many times before, and as it will many times again. As a history of the car industry, the book is dandy; as another of Halberstam's attempts to explain the world, it's an exercise in hubris.