While it spent more than three quarters of a century as the world's largest automaker, by 2008 General Motors had ceded its top position, teetered on the fringes of bankruptcy, and was looking, with increasing desperation, for a way out. Ford and Chrysler, who round out America's Big Three automakers, were in the same position. How did the industry fall so quickly from the SUV-fueled euphoria of the turn of the century to the death spiral days of 2008? This groundbreaking investigation, based on unparalleled access and reporting, shows exactly why the Big Three failed and explains how both American citizens and businesses alike can learn from this failure and become strong as a result.