Books › A Ghost's Memoir
A Ghost's Memoir
220 pages
A gripping, behind-the-scenes chess match between a lone writer and a corporate behemoth.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in on a high-stakes, mid-century boardroom negotiation where the currency is information and the opponent is a corporate titan. The narrative unfolds at a steady, methodical pace, drawing you into the intricate chess match of publishing, censorship, and antitrust anxieties. McDonald's prose is sharp and journalistic, reflecting his background, but it is layered with the quiet tension of a David-and-Goliath legal struggle. The mood is steeped in the smoke-filled, wood-paneled atmosphere of 1960s corporate America, blending intellectual strategy with the deeply personal frustration of a writer fighting for his work. It will thoroughly delight fans of business history, legal dramas, and anyone fascinated by the hidden mechanics of how monumental books make it to the shelf.
- Mood
- tense
- corporate
- intellectual
- Tone
- journalistic
- determined
- analytical
- reflective
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- corporate power vs individual rights · the mechanics of censorship · strategic maneuvering · the hidden labor of writing
- The writing
- Clear, methodical, and sharply observant, blending journalistic precision with strategic analysis.
- The arc
- Moves from the quiet diligence of collaborative writing to the tense frustration of corporate suppression, culminating in a hard-won sense of vindication.
- Who it's for
- Readers fascinated by mid-century corporate history, publishing drama, and the strategic chess matches between individuals and massive institutions.
Content notes
- corporate litigation
- workplace stress
About the book
"Published in 1964, My Years with General Motors was an immediate best-seller and today is considered one of the few classic books on management. The book is the ghostwritten memoir of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), whose business and management strategies enabled General Motors to overtake Ford as the dominant American automobile manufacturer in the 1920s and 1930s.".
"What has been largely unknown until now is that My Years with General Motors was almost not published. Although it was written with the permission of General Motors - and slated for publication in October 1959 - at the last minute General Motors tried to suppress the book out of fears that some of the material in it could become evidence in an antitrust action against the company.
This book, by John McDonald, Sloan's ghostwriter, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the book's writing, its attempted suppression, and the lawsuit that eventually led to its publication. McDonald's narrative is partly the David-and-Goliath story of a lone journalist taking on the world's then-largest corporation and partly a study of strategy in its own right. McDonald's struggle to publish the book led him to navigate a complicated course among the competing interests of General Motors, Fortune magazine (his employer), and Time, Inc. (Fortune's owner).
In many ways this book about the book parallels the Sloan book as a tale of successful, brilliantly planned strategy."--BOOK JACKET.
Description from Open Library.
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