THE RECKONING by Halberstam, David - 1986

New York: William Morrow & Company. Near Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1986. First Edition Thus. 1. Hard Cover. 0688048382 . FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING (stated) Hardcover with unclipped ($19.95) dust jacket. 752 pp. Quarter bound in publisher's white cloth over blue boards. Minor damp-stain on lower right corner and spotting on bottom-edge, not affecting text, else very good. Now in Mylar. GOOD/GOOD. A society that got too rich for its own good, racing through its postwar prosperity, developing wasteful habits, until in the mid-seventies it fell prey to the unlikeliest of rivals, Japan, a nation only recently scorned for the low quality of its goods. The book portrays the conflict between the culture of affluence and the culture of adversity. This book tackles the No. 1 subject for Americans today - our prosperity going down the drain - jobs flowing overseas - foreigners seizing our markets and beating us at our own game - the drastic change ahead for our economy - and makes it not only readable, but riveting. Halberstam tells the stories of two companies, Ford and Nissan, each the embodiment of its society, he tells their stories side by side, from the founders and owners right down to the workers on the assembly line. He has penetrated the closed, hostile world of corporate Japan and exposed fierce confrontations. David Halberstam, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, is the author of The Best and the Brightest (about the government and military during the Vietnam era) The Powers that Be (about the rise of the modern media) and The Fifties (a social, political, economic and cultural history of that decade) . Thick 8vo (6.5 x 9.5"). 752 pp .