CRISIS IN BETHLEHEM: Big Steel's Struggle to Survive

The decline and fall of a rust-belt colossus as witnessed by a local newspaper editor who saw it all during his 28-year reign at the Bethlehem Globe Times. Plagued by numerous types of mismanagement, as well as by almost extortionist labor unions, and finally felled by a series of natural disasters, Bethlehem Steel's failure is one of the darkest chapters in American corporate history. Crisis in Bethlehem is a very human story of blind faith in a shortsighted, near-obsolete corporate system and of the tragic societal impact when the dinosaur collapsed. Strohmeyer backs up his facts and conclusions with insights gained from over 100 interviews with former employees--executives and workers. In the end we have a fascinating and important story of a sea change in America's business Life. Unfortunately, the author has a pet peeve with exorbitant executive salaries, feather. bedding and other extravagencies that are often abusive but most certainly not unusual in American business. Nevertheless, despite its faults, Crisis in Bethlehem manages to put 50 years of steelmaking into meaningful historical perspective. It is an exhaustive piece of investigative reporting that carefully demystifies the near-catastrophic events surrounding Big Steel's downfall.