The Man Who Broke Capitalism

December 1, 2021

In Wastelands, award-winning novelist Addison turns to nonfiction to profile a rural community so angered by the damage done by pollution-spewing Big Agriculture that it sued the worst offender--and won. New York Times best-selling author Bremmer sets us on a Collision Course, predicting that more pandemics, increased climate-change complications, and life-altering new technologies will inevitably be a part of our future (100,000-copy first printing). Distinguished Stanford political scientist Fukuyama, perhaps best known forThe End of History and the Last Man, now examines Liberalism and Its Discontents at a time of political upheaval (75,000-copy first printing). "Corner Office" columnist at theNew York Times, Gelles calls General Electric CEO Jack Welch The Man Who Broke Capitalism, indicting him for the harm done by his brand of capitalism and showing how some companies are trying to undo it with different strategies. Award-winning journalist Hill ( BET News) and New York Times best-selling author Brewster (The Century) join forces in Seen and Unseen, considering videos like those showing the killing of George Floyd and the harassment of Christian Cooper to investigate how technology has impacted our conversations about race (100,000-copy first printing). Photographer Palley's Into the Inferno recalls eight years spent documenting California's raging wildfires, showing that the state's fire season now lasts year-round and calling for climate action (see also poet Kevin Goodan's Spot Weather Forecast). Former president of the Uyghur Humans Rights Project and now a commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Turkel uses memoir in No Escape to reveal China's ongoing repression of the Uyghur people.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 21, 2022
New York Times reporter Gelles (Mindful Work) delivers a cutting takedown of former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. As chairman and CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001, Gelles writes, Welch reshaped corporate capitalism with his focus on growth at the expense of anything else. Gelles depicts his subject as an aggressive, argumentative kid who grew up to be a validation-seeking, temperamental adult. His two decades at the helm of the electronics giant were characterized, Gelles asserts, by a “relentless pursuit of financial glory,” during which he fired thousands of workers, cobbled together unrelated businesses that could turn a quick buck, and turned GE into a company that “paid little regard to its employees and was addicted to short-term profits.” The CEO’s actions sapped morale at the company, Gelles contends, yet his “extreme practices became commonplace” as profits grew and “Welchism” prevailed at more and more companies. For businesses interested in putting “an end, once and for all, to the bankrupt practice of making men like Welch our heroes” the author suggests remedies such as sharing “wealth with our workers” and “celebrating CEOs who... prioritize long-term growth over short-term gains.” Full of color and vitriol, this is an incisive, eye-popping history. Agent: Amanda Binky Urban, ICM Partners.

April 1, 2022
A deconstruction of a famed mogul's harmful influence on American business. Gelles, the "Corner Office" columnist for the New York Times, focuses on Jack Welch (1935-2020), CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001, whom he sees as "the personification of American, alpha-male capitalism, a pin-striped conquistador with the spoils to prove it." Welch joined GE in 1960 after completing a doctorate in chemical engineering, soon rising through the company's ranks. Notoriously "impatient, impulsive, and crass" as well as ambitious and energetic, when he took over as CEO, he lost no time inaugurating his vision--and that of economist Milton Friedman--of "maximizing profits at the expense of all else." GE had been known as a caring company that gave its workers exceptional benefits. Welch shattered that reputation, enacting massive layoffs, carrying out extensive mergers and acquisitions, and turning GE into "a giant unregulated bank." When Welch ascended at GE, writes Gelles, "half of GE's earnings came from businesses dating back to the Edison era: motors, wiring, and appliances. Yet Welch, an extremist in all he did, drastically overcorrected. Instead of trying to fix American manufacturing, he effectively abandoned it, and would soon start shuttering factories around the country and shipping jobs overseas." His influence was far-reaching. By the time he retired, 16 public companies were run by men "who had studied at his knee." However, remarked a Goldman Sachs board member, "they were just cost cutters. And you can't cost-cut your way to prosperity." Gelles capably traces GE's downfall from being the most valuable company in the world in 1993 to its begging for a bailout in 2008, and he exposes the many business titans who followed Welch's strategies. He sees hope, however, in the "handful of idealistic capitalists"--leading businesses such as Unilever, PayPal, Patagonia, and Seventh Generation--who consider their companies' impacts on employees, the environment, and society. A vigorous argument for a more humane capitalism.

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