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nevclue's review against another edition
3.0
Detailed account of the rise and fall of the glass company Anchor Hocking in Lancaster, Ohio. I came into this knowing practically nothing about glass making, Ohio, or private equity. This lays out a very convincing case that the corporate raiding, private equity, and a Friedman-esque blind pursuit of short term profit threw a once prosperous town into the drug ridden, left behind cautionary tale that we see so much of in the news right now.
Unfortunately, for all I found the arguments of the book fascinating, I really struggled to finish this. I definitely should not have listened to this on tape. This is a fact, statistic, and people heavy book and I'm terrible at absorbing that information through listening rather than reading. So I'm not sure if I found this such a slog because the format was all wrong for me or if this really is unnecessarily dry.
Unfortunately, for all I found the arguments of the book fascinating, I really struggled to finish this. I definitely should not have listened to this on tape. This is a fact, statistic, and people heavy book and I'm terrible at absorbing that information through listening rather than reading. So I'm not sure if I found this such a slog because the format was all wrong for me or if this really is unnecessarily dry.
gtv3rules's review against another edition
4.0
Having grown up in Lancaster during the 70s & 80s... before all of this happened... I was totally disheartened to read about everything that went on since then. I moved away once I got a job in Columbus after College as it talked about...
Just one of the saddest books I've ever read...
Just one of the saddest books I've ever read...
evirae's review
5.0
This Book Was: Informative, Heart-Rending, A MUST-Read for 2017 in America. If you read Hillbilly Elegy and/or Strangers In Their Own Land, you NEED to read this.
Review:
Content Rating: Rated-R for (quoted) Cursing, Drug Use, Racism, and Depression-Triggers for anyone with a sense of Empathy.
Maturity Rating: High Maturity. While mostly a flowing read, you need to come into this with an open mind.
Would I recommend it? -- YES. Everyone should read this, but especially those in America who could not understand why certain groups clung to populism so fiercely that they voted for a billionaire connected with Russia who vilified anyone who was not white. who has a disability, who is a woman, etc. Anyone who wonders why someone would "vote against their own interests."
Review:
I heard about Glass House on NPR while driving to work. It covers the rich history of Lancaster, Ohio and its sincerely expert-level glass manufacturing which proved to be a source of not only good-paying jobs (with pensions! remember those?!) but also social cohesion, identity, and well-deserved praise. Then, the world happened. From leveraged buyouts, hostile takeovers, and private equity, Glass House details the downfall of Anchor/American Manufacturing and the ripple effects on society-- explaining the desperation, sometimes hostility, and overall distrust for "The System" that comes with the social contract enabling average Americans to live even average lives is shattered like glass falling to a factory floor. You absolutely want to read this.
Reviewer's Note: I was born in Miami, Florida, but a job transfer in the family brought me to grow up in East Tennessee. Being Hispanic but "looking white," I watched as family members who looked more foreign get different treatment. Being an "outsider," the locals' responses to me weren't great, but I avoided the worst even though I was relentlessly bullied in middle and high school. I went to public schools but did transfer to a larger high school as the closer institution didn't offer much for what I wanted as high-level courses were my goal to get into college. I wanted to go to college, but, more than anything, I wanted to "escape the state." I couldn't imagine why people were okay with growing old and dying within an hour's drive of where they were born-- and, given Tennessee's low-paying jobs and oppressive climate, I couldn't understand the logic of that kind of decision.
I referred to my Tennessee town as a "tar pit." The longer people stayed, the harder it seemed it was to get out. The cost of living was low-- but the job wages paid accordingly. There was one big employer in the area for people without advanced degrees-- my mom ended up there, my future step-dad worked there, and I even did a stint there. It wasn't manufacturing, but, had it left the area, I can only imagine the ripple effect that would have. But it never had the loyalty that Anchor had in Glass House
I moved to Los Angeles for college, and I've never left. It might be more expensive, but the opportunities, diversity, tolerance, and room for growth here cannot be compared to Tennessee. At the 2016 election, I couldn't understand why, though not the majority, many Americans in depressed areas voted for a billionaire with a horrible business record-- and, even after his cabinet became a more congested swap rather than a drained one, why they still support him. There is racism, there is anger against "The System" and "outsiders," but mostly there is a desperation to bring back a world and a way of life that simply doesn't exist anymore (and that can't be brought back, no matter what Trump says).
Do you know that feeling of sadness and depression when watching The Walking Dead or any other show/movie/story where the cast of characters is not only fighting to survive but also to reconstruct the world that was destroyed? Welcome to Lancaster.
mkesten's review against another edition
3.0
Brian Alexander’s provocative book, “Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town” takes the measure of capital as a malevolent force in American society. He draws a line from the Wall Street raiders of the 1970’s to the decay and decline of the American industrial heartland.
Alexander’s book should be read along side Arlie Russell Hochschield’s “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger on the American Right.” Hochschield aims her sharpest arrows at the American chemical industry for their willful disregard of the ecology of the Deep South, their despoliation of the bayou, the swamps, and the wetlands adjoining their chemical plants and depots.
In “Glass House” we have an Ohio town that struck it rich in the early 1900’s when landowners discovered a rich and cheap reservoir of natural gas and parlayed it into a strong glass industry. They built their plants, they hired their workers, and things seemed to be going along tickety-boo until Carl Icahn arrived with a plan to blast open their companies to “unlock shareholder value” trapped in the aging corporations.
After a series of mismanaged takeovers, plant closures, and bankruptcies, the workers are left with worse wages, few benefits, and no security. Their municipality having given huge tax concessions to the new shareholders are facing bankruptcy as well. And community services consist largely of jailing drug abusers and drug dealers. There is little opportunity for the residents, so they either drift into crime and they drift to nearby Columbus.
Then business turns south, the outsiders blame government taxes, greedy unions, foreign competition, and lazy workers for their misfortunes.
Alexander has a good point. There is a connection between business and the communities they serve. I emphasize the communities they SERVE. The community isn’t just another asset to squeeze.
But is this the whole story?
Just before reading this book I also read “The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American innovation,” by Jon Gertner. Long before AT&T was broken up by fiat of Congress, the telephone monopoly’s research subsidiary, Bell Labs, assembled the most extraordinary group of engineers, physicists, and chemists to tackle the thorniest problems the telephone company faced.
Bell’s scientists discovered the transistor, found ways to pump information through fibre optic cables, pioneered satellite communications, and developed the first cellphone network. While an employee of Bell Labs, Claude Shannon first put down his Information Theory and opened people’s eyes on how to convert all information into zero’s and ones, one of the foundations of today’s computer industry.
In the American context, capital has helped create some of the greatest wonders of the 20th and now the 21st century. Not always malevolent, you say.
The “All American town” of Alexander’s story, Lancaster, Ohio, is not so squeaky clean. It has a history of race baiting and social exclusion. Alexander starts the story long after the plains have been cleared of Amerindians, after Europeans stole the land for their own farmers.
The ugly side of America is also part of its heritage. Winner take all is as sacred as the Second Amendment. Are we so surprised it has spawned a predatory culture that feeds upon itself?
Alexander’s book should be read along side Arlie Russell Hochschield’s “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger on the American Right.” Hochschield aims her sharpest arrows at the American chemical industry for their willful disregard of the ecology of the Deep South, their despoliation of the bayou, the swamps, and the wetlands adjoining their chemical plants and depots.
In “Glass House” we have an Ohio town that struck it rich in the early 1900’s when landowners discovered a rich and cheap reservoir of natural gas and parlayed it into a strong glass industry. They built their plants, they hired their workers, and things seemed to be going along tickety-boo until Carl Icahn arrived with a plan to blast open their companies to “unlock shareholder value” trapped in the aging corporations.
After a series of mismanaged takeovers, plant closures, and bankruptcies, the workers are left with worse wages, few benefits, and no security. Their municipality having given huge tax concessions to the new shareholders are facing bankruptcy as well. And community services consist largely of jailing drug abusers and drug dealers. There is little opportunity for the residents, so they either drift into crime and they drift to nearby Columbus.
Then business turns south, the outsiders blame government taxes, greedy unions, foreign competition, and lazy workers for their misfortunes.
Alexander has a good point. There is a connection between business and the communities they serve. I emphasize the communities they SERVE. The community isn’t just another asset to squeeze.
But is this the whole story?
Just before reading this book I also read “The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American innovation,” by Jon Gertner. Long before AT&T was broken up by fiat of Congress, the telephone monopoly’s research subsidiary, Bell Labs, assembled the most extraordinary group of engineers, physicists, and chemists to tackle the thorniest problems the telephone company faced.
Bell’s scientists discovered the transistor, found ways to pump information through fibre optic cables, pioneered satellite communications, and developed the first cellphone network. While an employee of Bell Labs, Claude Shannon first put down his Information Theory and opened people’s eyes on how to convert all information into zero’s and ones, one of the foundations of today’s computer industry.
In the American context, capital has helped create some of the greatest wonders of the 20th and now the 21st century. Not always malevolent, you say.
The “All American town” of Alexander’s story, Lancaster, Ohio, is not so squeaky clean. It has a history of race baiting and social exclusion. Alexander starts the story long after the plains have been cleared of Amerindians, after Europeans stole the land for their own farmers.
The ugly side of America is also part of its heritage. Winner take all is as sacred as the Second Amendment. Are we so surprised it has spawned a predatory culture that feeds upon itself?
aileenginny's review
I tried to listen to the audio book but the narration was too monotone for me, and it was difficult to tell when a direct quote was being read. The topic was somewhat interesting, but the book was too slow paced to draw me in.
alexander58's review against another edition
1.0
Got through the first 100 pages. Thought “when will the details about acquisition after acquisition end.” Flipped to page 250. Saw more of the same. I stopped there.