NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The New Yorker Best Books of 2022 - Financial Times Best Books of
2022 - The Economist Best Books of 2022
The dramatic rise--and unimaginable fall--of America's most iconic
corporation by New York Times bestselling author and pre-eminent
financial journalist William D. Cohan
No company embodied American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial power
more spectacularly and more consistently than the General Electric
Company. GE once developed and manufactured many of the inventions we
take for granted today, nearly everything from the lightbulb to the jet
engine. GE also built a cult of financial and leadership success envied
across the globe and became the world's most valuable and most admired
company. But even at the height of its prestige and influence, cracks
were forming in its formidable foundation.
In a masterful re-appraisal of a company that once claimed to "bring
good things to life," pre-eminent financial journalist William D. Cohan
argues that the incredible story of GE's rise and fall is not only a
paragon, but also a prism through which we can better understand
American capitalism. Beginning with its founding, innovations, and
exponential growth through acquisitions and mergers, Cohan plumbs the
depths of GE's storied management culture, its pioneering doctrine of
shareholder value, and its seemingly hidden blind spots, to reveal that
GE wasn't immune from the hubris and avoidable mistakes suffered by many
other corporations.
In Power Failure, Cohan punctures the myth of GE, exploring in a rich
narrative how a once-great company wound up broken and in tatters--a
cautionary tale for the ages.
