Before Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates, there was William C Durant (1861 - 1947), the flamboyant businessman who made deals at warp speed to build General Motors and the automotive industry. Axel Madsen brings Durant, a self-starter who was obsessed with making it and being seen as making it, to thrilling life in his biography.
Thriving on the art of the deal, Durant, at the height of his career, was buying companies at the rate of one every thirty days. Then, Durant gambled on GM stock and lost, and never again had the financial wherewithal to succeed - and died a poor man. Featuring icons of American business, including Henry Ford, David Buick, Louis Chevrolet, Alfred P Sloan and Pierre Dupont, 'The Deal Maker' is a fast-paced, rousing tale of Durant's dizzying success and abject failure.
