The first real look inside the Obama administration mixes political skirmishes and big business shakeups and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steven Rattner is not just the man brought in by the President to save the auto industry, he is a top Wall Street financier and a former New York Times Washington correspondent. Now, from his vantage at the helm of the historic auto industry intervention, Rattner crafts a tightly plotted narrative of political brinksmanship, corporate incompetence, and personalities under pressure in a high-stakes drama of Washington and Detroit. He also explains the tough choices he and his team made---working against the clock, intense lobbying from staunch Democratic allies, and vocal opposition from free market partisans---to keep Chrysler and GM in operation.With the U.S. economy seemingly in free fall, President Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and economic adviser Larry Summers---all revealingly described---faced the possibility of more than a million lost jobs and the astonishing disintegration of GM (a management nightmare) and Chrysler (a company so close to death it was nearly sacrificed). The saga of their rescue is emblematic of the many challenges America now faces---from a struggling manufacturing base to a declining middle class---and illustrates how difficult it is in the hothouse of Washington, So deeply split along party lines, to take desperately needed, swift action. Rattner's book is a candid, gripping account of one of the toughest crises of President Obama's first year in office, with lessons relevant for all managers and executives. Read Less