Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

General Electric (GE), which started with Edison’s incandescent lightbulb, grew into a company that owned subsidiaries in nearly every industry until its demise in 2021, when it announced it would split into three different enterprises focused on aerospace, healthcare, and energy. Such an important and massive conglomerate that dominated American business for most of the last century requires a substantial tome, which is exactly what Cohan (The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.) delivers. The book comes in at just over 800 pages, with more than half dedicated to the tenure of Jack Welch (1981–2001) and Jeff Immelt (2001–17). It also points to how those two men not only embodied GE but came to represent the American CEO. The author’s analysis not only focuses on the influence of these two CEOs, but it also delves into the financial health of the company to depict how specific events, such as the 2008 global financial crisis, put cracks in the foundation of the company that led to its rapid demise.