This suffers from the usual one-sidedness of business books. Everyone kisses up to their boss. You can easily tell who talked to the author, and who didn't. Hoffman brings zero skepticism to his reporting, even accepting at face value Ford's ridiculous assertions about the cost of Mulally's private jets.

If you can read past this, though, it is an interesting story; and despite the usual flaws it is above average for the genre.

> Mulally piled in with his press aide, Karen Hampton; Ford Americas group controller Bob Shanks; and John Kostiuk, the head of Ford’s motor pool. Bodyguards traveled in two other vehicles ahead and behind Mulally’s Escape. The inconspicuous motorcade spent ten hours on the road, stopping only for bathroom breaks. … Given the security escort the trip required, it probably would have been cheaper to take the Gulfstream. But Ford had learned the hard way that appearance counted for more than reality inside the Beltway. That morning, the automaker announced that it was selling all of its corporate jets. ( )

impressive ( )

First book I've read for pleasure. Great book if your a car guy and a Ford fan like I am. ( )

American Icon provides a recap of the history of Ford Motor Company before focusing on the company's recent history including it's near bankruptcy, the decision to bring Alan Mullally in as CEO, and the decisive steps that were taken, betting everything on a final plan to pull the company back from the brink, re-structuring the company, introduce new lines of products, and working to change consumer perception of one of America's oldest automotive companies. ( )

The return of Ford Motors to national prominence and relative health. The most interesting thing to me here is how workers/unions appear as burdens to be shed. That left the hagiographic account of Ford’s CEO with a little of the flavor of “the operation was a success, but the patient died.” It was also funny to read how Ford negotiated its way out of a lot of its retiree health care promises, then Ford executives got huffy that the other big two carmakers were getting federal money they wouldn’t have to pay back—they saw the promises they broke as completely justified, but others were egregious ne’er-do-wells. ( )