The End of Detroit

Mikki Maynard's The End of Detroit received a strong review in the October 11 Economist ("digs out the the underlying story:" "valuable analysis"), but it's a weak book. (One Amazon reviewer lists a series of errors, although I don't know enough to tell if he's right.) The real problem is that she thinks the auto market is driven by the personalities of auto executives. She does, especially at the end, discuss briefly the structural disadvantages the big three have in the U.S., such as union work rules and health care costs, but her real interest is executives, and especially celebrity executives. Maynard does tell the story of the major Japanese manufacturers, which helped me, since other than Honda I could never keep them straight in my mind.