THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY. At the end of 2008 Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors & Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations transform its lackluster product lineup & overcome a dys-functional culture of infighting backstabbing & excuses. It was an extraordinary risk but it was the only way the Ford family--America's last great industrial dynasty--could hold on to their company. Mulally & his team pulled off one of the great-est comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world. American Icon" is the compelling behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of collapse Ford went outside the auto industry & recruited Mulally--the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of 9/11--to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been unable to overcome decades of mismanage-ment & denial. Mulally applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford's inefficient operations force its fractious executives to work together as a team & spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the soul of American manufacturing. Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a game-changing contract Bill Ford's battle to hold the Ford family together when many were ready to cash in their stock & write off the company & the secret alliance with Toyota & Honda that helped prop up the Amer-ican automotive supply base. In one of the great management narratives of our time Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meet-ings to drive change & force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry. Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford's top executives & top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally Bill Ford the Ford family former executives labor leaders & company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too Big to Fail & The Big Short American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid & colorful best." ...

Make Positive Thinking" a thing of the past! For David Samson is " The Recognised Master of poor Performance". Donald Trump Bill Gates & Oprah Winfrey all havent consulted with him -- but you should! So defeat those terrible feeling of optimism! Achieve the inertia & stagnation you deserve! & remember those two little words that will forever set you free: WHY BOTHER?" ...

This focuses on the history costume & material culture of the native peoples of North America. It was in the Southwest
- modern
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In American on Purpose" Craig Ferguson delivers a moving & achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow Scotland to the entertainment capital of the world. Along the way he stumbled through several attempts to make his mark
- as a punk rock musician a modern dancer a bouncer a construction worker & a st&-up comedian. To numb the pain of failure Ferguson found comfort in drugs & alcohol addictions that eventually led to an aborted suicide attempt. (He forgot to do it when someone offered him a beer.) But his story has a happy ending: in 1993 the washed up Ferguson washed up in the United States
- which from the age of seven he had always seen as a beacon of goodness & possibility. Finally sober Ferguson landed a breakthrough role on the hit sitcom " The Drew Carey Show" a success that eventually led to his current starring role as the host of CBS " The Late Late Show". By far Fergusons greatest triumph was his decision to become a U.S. citizen a milestone he achieved in early 2008 just before his command performance."

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In American Pastoral Philip Roth gives us a novel of unqualified greatness that is an elegy for all the twentieth centurys promises of prosperity civic order & domestic bliss. Roths protagonist is Seymour Swede Levov
- a legendary high school athlete a devoted family man a hard worker the prosperous inheritor of his fathers Newark glove factory
- comes of age in thriving triumphant post-war America. & then one day in 1968 Swedes beautiful American luck deserts him. For Swedes adored daughter Merry has grown from a loving quick-witted girl into a sullen fanatical teenager
- a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of political terrorism. & overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoral & into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively readable propelled by sorrow rage & a deep compassion for its characters this is Roths masterpiece.


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Patrick Bateman is twenty-six & works on Wall Street; he is handsome sophisticated charming & intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to a head-on collision with America's greatest dream -- & its worst nightmare -- American Psycho is a bleak bitter black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront. ' American Psycho is a beautifully controlled careful important novel.. . The novelist's function is to keep a running tag on the progress of the culture; & he's done it brilliantly.. .A seminal book' Fay Weldon Washington Post ' The first novel to come along in years that takes on deep & Dostoyevskian themes.. . Ellis is showing older authors where the hands have come to on the clock' Norman Mailer Vanity Fair ' Serious clever & shatteringly effective.. . For its savagely coherent picture of a society lethally addicted to blandness it should be judged by the highest standards' Sunday Times ...

Even before its publication in 1991 American Psycho captured the attention & imagination of readers. Now an acknowledged modern classic & a multimillion-copy bestseller it continues to be one of the most talked-about books of all time. A film based on the novel starring Christian Bale was released in 2000. Patrick Bateman is twenty-six & works on Wall Street; he is handsome sophisticated charming & intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to a head-on collision with Americas greatest dream -- & its worst nightmare -- American Psycho is a bleak bitter black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront. In 2012 Picador celebrated its 40th anniversary. During that time we have published many prize-winning & bestselling authors including Bret Easton Ellis & Cormac Mc Carthy Alice Sebold & Helen Fielding Graham Swift & Alan Hollinghurst. Years later Picador continue to bring readers the very best contemporary fiction non-fiction & poetry from across the globe. Discover more at picador.com/40 ...

The Secret Projects series is now well established with both aviation historians & modellers. American Secret Projects: Bombers Attack & Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945-1974 describes the important area of post-World War 2 bomber development in the United States. During the period to the 1970s the USAF operated several classes of bomber
- heavy long-range types for strategic operations medium bombers & fighter bombers for interdiction & ground support. The US Navy had its own series of attack aircraft & bombers for delivering nuclear weapons while the anti-submarine aircraft was another area to be examined in considerable depth. As a superpower America was also able to look at some of the more unusual approaches in the creative process
- for example bombers propelled by nuclear propulsion. Many of the aircraft that entered service or flew only as prototypes resulted from design competitions involving many other proposals which for one reason or another never left the drawing board. Following the traditions & format of previous Secret Projects titles this book examines many of these un-built proposals but at the same time gives a full overview of American bomber development from 1945 to the early 1970s. The text opens with the first post-war jets & closes with the Rockwell B-1. It is illustrated with many general arrangement drawings & original manufacturers models & artworks & many of the designs have never been seen in print before. Appendices give a list of all known bomber projects plus details of specifications.

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He is the deadliest American sniper ever called the devil" by the enemies he hunted & "the legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers... From 1999 to 2009 U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyles kills (the previous American record was 109) but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him al-Shaitan ("the devil") & placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs Marines & U.S. Army soldiers whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops & stealth positions. Gripping & unforgettable Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. After 9/11 he was thrust onto the front lines of the War on Terror & soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. He recorded a personal-record 2 100-yard kill shot outside Baghdad; in Fallujah Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on a street; in Ramadi he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war--of twice being shot & experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends. American Sniper also honors Kyles fellow warriors who raised hell on & off the battlefield. & in moving first-person accounts throughout Kyles wife Taya speaks openly about the strains of war on their marriage & children as well as on Chris. Adrenaline-charged & deeply personal American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness account of war that only one man could tell." ...

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle tells the story of his legendary career from 1999-2009 during which time he recorded the most confirmed sniper kills (officially a record 155 though the real number is even much higher) in the history of the United States military any branch from 1776 to present. Nicknamed The Legend by his fellow SEALS Kyle's service in Iraq & Afghanistan earned him seven medals for bravery including two Silver Stars. With the pacing of thriller American Sniper" vividly recounts Chief Kyle's experiences at key battles including the March on Baghdad (beginning of Iraq War) Fallujah Ramadi & Sadr City. He was shot in both the helmet & back; he witnessed the death of his two closest friends. After his combat deployments Kyle became the SEAL's chief sniper instructor & he literally wrote the book on being a sniper: the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine which is the first Navy SEAL sniper manual. Today he is the CEO of an international security & training corporation. " American Sniper" is the story of the accomplishments of a husband & father who went from a Texas rodeo cowboy to his country's most legendary sniper. It describes the challenges of keeping a marriage & family together & how after four deployments Kyle ultimately chose to return to his wife & two children. This is also the story of the men of SEAL Team 3 who fought & died as brothers with Kyle. " American Sniper" provides a rare first-hand glimpse at the elite world of the SEALs & combat snipers who fought in a war where the " Rules of Engagement" only allowed for precise surgical strikes at the heart of a well-trained & well-organized opposition force which had virtually no " Rules of Engagement"." ...