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Billy Durant: creator of General Motors,
Praise for the first "A fascinating book [and] a sympathetic look at the man who glued General Motors together and in the process made Flint one of the great industrial centers of America."
---Detroit Free Press"It is refreshing to report that Billy Durant is one of the best researched books dealing with an automotive giant."
---Antique Automobile "Billy Durant fills in a masterly way the only important void remaining concerning the work of the motorcar pioneers."
---Richard Crabb, author of Birth of a The Men and Incidents That Gave America the MotorcarWhat explains Billy Durant's powerful influence on the auto industry during its early days? And why, given Durant's impact, has he been nearly forgotten for decades?In search of answers to these questions, Lawrence Gustin interviewed Durant's widow, who provided a wealth of previously unpublished autobiographical notes, letters, and personal papers. Gustin also interviewed two of Durant's personal secretaries and others who had known and worked with the man who created General Motors. The result is the amazing account of the mastermind behind what would become, as the twentieth century progressed, the world's largest company.
---Detroit Free Press"It is refreshing to report that Billy Durant is one of the best researched books dealing with an automotive giant."
---Antique Automobile "Billy Durant fills in a masterly way the only important void remaining concerning the work of the motorcar pioneers."
---Richard Crabb, author of Birth of a The Men and Incidents That Gave America the MotorcarWhat explains Billy Durant's powerful influence on the auto industry during its early days? And why, given Durant's impact, has he been nearly forgotten for decades?In search of answers to these questions, Lawrence Gustin interviewed Durant's widow, who provided a wealth of previously unpublished autobiographical notes, letters, and personal papers. Gustin also interviewed two of Durant's personal secretaries and others who had known and worked with the man who created General Motors. The result is the amazing account of the mastermind behind what would become, as the twentieth century progressed, the world's largest company.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
285 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
9 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence R. Gustin
7 books1 follower Lawrence R. Gustin worked for The Flint (Mich.) Journal from 1960 until 1984, where he worked as the auto editor and assistant metro editor, in charge of the auto, business and labor reporters.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 18, 2019
My go-to source on Billy Durant. It gives a real sense of the man that is in line with other impressions one gets of him from books that are not strictly speaking biographies. He was quite the stock speculator, salesman, and hustler, but by all accounts, and like any great salesman, he was a happy guy and always good company.
Among his greatest feats was creating Chevrolet and then using it to buy the much bigger General Motors. See my review of Alfred Sloan: My Life with General Motors for more.
Among his greatest feats was creating Chevrolet and then using it to buy the much bigger General Motors. See my review of Alfred Sloan: My Life with General Motors for more.
June 18, 2008
Ok, maybe not the best book ever, but written by a former coworker of mine so I have to like it:)
April 9, 2020
William Crapo Durrant’s life certainly wasn’t boring. After founding General Motors, he subsequently, as he would put it, “lost it to the bankers.” Amazingly, however, he then established a new business, centered around the Chevrolet Motor Company, and bought enough General Motors stock to retake GM. A few years later, he lost it again. Undaunted, he founded the Durant Motor Company, speculated heavily in the stock market...and lost a fortune in the 1929 crash. By the 1940s, he had new dreams of an expanding business empire - this time, with bowling alleys(!). He never recovered his former financial status, however, and according to his wife, he was broke when he died in 1947.
Durant himself was a fascinating personality. Unlike automotive pioneers such as Henry Ford, David Buick or Walter Chrysler, he seemingly held no great mechanical aptitude and didn’t even like automobiles, initially. What he was, first and foremost, was a capitalist, and he thrived on challenges of acquiring, building and expanding empires. Yet, as author Lawrence R. Gustin notes, he also didn’t actually care about money, something that occasionally put him in conflict with General Motors executives such as Charles Nash, who left to found Nash Motors (Nash Motors later became part of the American Motors Company). What Durant really sought, as Gustin notes, was power. Gustin shows, though, that while Durant was often considered a dictator, his General Motors was a decentralized organization, with the various divisions - Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Oakland Motors (which later became Pontiac) - operating quite independently. It’s these sorts of contrasts that continue to make Durant a compelling subject of study.
This edition of Gustin’s 1973 book was published in 2008, General Motors’ centennial year, with a second prior edition published in 1984. This new edition’s two-page “update” explains that “BILLY DURANT appears here almost exactly as in the first and second editions,” although the epilogue seems new. There are still surprisingly few biographies of Durant, however, and this one thus remains important. While researching it, Gustin interviewed several people, now deceased, who knew Durant well, and these include two of Durant’s personal secretaries, and his widow, Catherine (Considerably younger than her husband, she survived him until 1974.). Gustin’s enthusiasm for Durant and for the histories of both the automobile industry and the city of Flint (Gustin is a longtime resident) all come shining through. I loved learning not only about Durant but about other early automotive pioneers such as Charles Nash, David Buick, Walter Chrysler and Louis Chevrolet - all of whom became part of Durant’s story in one way or another.
That said, I do have a couple criticisms, albeit minor ones. First, Gustin relies heavily on block quotes, and while many are apt and insightful, they are also often quite lengthy, and there are a lot of them (I was once taught by a history professor who loathed the use of block quotes, and I have admittedly, to some extent, adopted his bias.). Secondly, while I appreciate that Gustin remained focused on Durant and his life, some passages, I felt, screamed for a little more context. As one not well-versed on stock market speculation, for example, I would have appreciated some layman’s explanations on the topic here and there, and when Gustin revealed that Durant feared a crash before it happened - and even met with President Herbert Hoover to discuss it - I wanted more detail behind this intriguing fact.
Ultimately, however, these are minor quibbles for a book that I enjoyed a great deal. BILLY DURANT is a worthwhile read, and for anyone seriously interested in early automotive history, it’s an absolute “must.”
Durant himself was a fascinating personality. Unlike automotive pioneers such as Henry Ford, David Buick or Walter Chrysler, he seemingly held no great mechanical aptitude and didn’t even like automobiles, initially. What he was, first and foremost, was a capitalist, and he thrived on challenges of acquiring, building and expanding empires. Yet, as author Lawrence R. Gustin notes, he also didn’t actually care about money, something that occasionally put him in conflict with General Motors executives such as Charles Nash, who left to found Nash Motors (Nash Motors later became part of the American Motors Company). What Durant really sought, as Gustin notes, was power. Gustin shows, though, that while Durant was often considered a dictator, his General Motors was a decentralized organization, with the various divisions - Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Oakland Motors (which later became Pontiac) - operating quite independently. It’s these sorts of contrasts that continue to make Durant a compelling subject of study.
This edition of Gustin’s 1973 book was published in 2008, General Motors’ centennial year, with a second prior edition published in 1984. This new edition’s two-page “update” explains that “BILLY DURANT appears here almost exactly as in the first and second editions,” although the epilogue seems new. There are still surprisingly few biographies of Durant, however, and this one thus remains important. While researching it, Gustin interviewed several people, now deceased, who knew Durant well, and these include two of Durant’s personal secretaries, and his widow, Catherine (Considerably younger than her husband, she survived him until 1974.). Gustin’s enthusiasm for Durant and for the histories of both the automobile industry and the city of Flint (Gustin is a longtime resident) all come shining through. I loved learning not only about Durant but about other early automotive pioneers such as Charles Nash, David Buick, Walter Chrysler and Louis Chevrolet - all of whom became part of Durant’s story in one way or another.
That said, I do have a couple criticisms, albeit minor ones. First, Gustin relies heavily on block quotes, and while many are apt and insightful, they are also often quite lengthy, and there are a lot of them (I was once taught by a history professor who loathed the use of block quotes, and I have admittedly, to some extent, adopted his bias.). Secondly, while I appreciate that Gustin remained focused on Durant and his life, some passages, I felt, screamed for a little more context. As one not well-versed on stock market speculation, for example, I would have appreciated some layman’s explanations on the topic here and there, and when Gustin revealed that Durant feared a crash before it happened - and even met with President Herbert Hoover to discuss it - I wanted more detail behind this intriguing fact.
Ultimately, however, these are minor quibbles for a book that I enjoyed a great deal. BILLY DURANT is a worthwhile read, and for anyone seriously interested in early automotive history, it’s an absolute “must.”
November 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. Durant was a fascinating man with an amazing and at times tragic story. I am interested in history and have a family connection to General Motors which I'm sure contributes to my interest in and enjoyment of this book. The story of how General Motors came to be, and to learn of the men who lent their names to vehicles still made today, namely Buick and Chevrolet, was quite interesting. It is amazing to me to think the truck sitting in my driveway with all its modern bells and whistles bears the same name as its early counterparts over 100 years ago. I wonder what Billy Durant would think about that.
Adding to the interest for me was the connection to Flint and the fact the book was written in the early 1970s, when Buick was still in Flint and Flint was still a booming part of the auto industry. I'm sure Durant would be heartbroken to know what has happened to his town and that his Buick plant is no more. But back when this book was written, did anyone know that the Buick plant so celebrated in these pages would be closed before the century ended?
Adding to the interest for me was the connection to Flint and the fact the book was written in the early 1970s, when Buick was still in Flint and Flint was still a booming part of the auto industry. I'm sure Durant would be heartbroken to know what has happened to his town and that his Buick plant is no more. But back when this book was written, did anyone know that the Buick plant so celebrated in these pages would be closed before the century ended?
November 10, 2024
This biography chronicles the amazing rise and epic fall of William C. “Billy” Durant, a high school dropout who founded what later became the largest corporation in the world: General Motors. It is clear that the author devoted many years to his research of this American icon. As a result, one can learn a lot from his book about how to succeed as an entrepreneur. For example, find a new product that sells itself, become your industry’s best salesman, surround yourself with innovators, pay exceptional people handsomely, and acquire startup competitors. Conversely, one can also learn many lessons about how to fail as a mature business. For instance, research acquisitions poorly, spend and expand with reckless abandon, make yourself unavailable to senior leaders, invest heavily in risky securities, and set nothing aside for emergencies.
While I enjoyed this book, I did find it to be a challenging read. First, it names so many automotive pioneers that it quickly becomes difficult to remember their roles. Second, the author writes of complicated stock transactions as if they are intuitive for most readers. These shortcoming make it difficult to fully appreciate Durant’s two major conflicts; that is, both times he lost control of GM. Even so, it is clear to all who read on that “the bull of bulls” enjoyed the biggest boom and suffered the worst bust of arguably any businessperson in modern history. Consequently, this book will leave you both thoroughly impressed and utterly aghast.
While I enjoyed this book, I did find it to be a challenging read. First, it names so many automotive pioneers that it quickly becomes difficult to remember their roles. Second, the author writes of complicated stock transactions as if they are intuitive for most readers. These shortcoming make it difficult to fully appreciate Durant’s two major conflicts; that is, both times he lost control of GM. Even so, it is clear to all who read on that “the bull of bulls” enjoyed the biggest boom and suffered the worst bust of arguably any businessperson in modern history. Consequently, this book will leave you both thoroughly impressed and utterly aghast.
December 30, 2019
Gustin is the ultimate answer man on the life and career of Billy Durant, a business maverick who sometimes lost and sometimes won, the latter most spectacularly when he created General Motors. A terrific read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews