It was the deal heard round the world. In May 1998, a stunning $36 billion merger was announced by Chrysler, the all-American automaker, and Daimler-Benz, the German manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans. The Wall Street Journal christened the deal "the biggest industrial merger of all time." The marriage of Daimler and Chrysler promised to rock the global auto industry and draw up a blueprint for international consolidation on an epic scale. But the union of Chrysler, the blue-collar maker of Jeeps and minivans, with Daimler, the crown jewel of German industry, didn't turn out to be a merger made in heaven. When the dust settled, Daimler had bought Chrysler, and the shock waves reverberated on both sides of the Atlantic. An American icon lost its independence, and a German giant grew in power and influence. The DiamlerChrysler deal brough together two automotive superpowers and triggered a chain reaction among competitors seeking partners around the world. In a gripping narrative ripped from the daily headlines, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz of the Detroit News go behind the scenes of the defining corporate drama of the decade. With groundbreaking reporting, they reveal the untold story behind the unsuccessful attempt to take over Chrysler by its biggest shareholder, the reclusive billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, and its legendary retired CEO, Lee Iacocca. Their startling grab for the smallest of Detroit's Big Three automakers sparked secret talks between Chrysler and Daimler on a massive joint venture. The first deal collapsed, but it set the stage for the final, intense negotiations between Chrysler chairman Robert Eaton and Daimler chairman Jürgen Schrempp. It was hailed as a historic "merger of equals," but the euphoria evaporated amid a clash of cultures, identities, and personalities. The action moves feverishly around the world with larger-than-life characters in the high-stakes arena of international automaking. Taken for a Ride follows the twists and turns in the road to DaimlerChrysler and, in the end, emerges as a cautionary tale of the risks and rewards of going global.

A hardhitting account of the smoke screen created by the "big three" U.S. auto manufacturers over harmful emissions blows the lid off a concerted effort to mislead the American people and block attempts to clean up auto pollution. Original.

How does public transport work in an African city under neoliberalism? Who owns what in it? Who has the power to influence its shape and changes in it over time? What does it mean to be a precarious and informal worker in the private minibuses that provide public transport in Dar es Salaam? These are the main questions that inform this in-depth case study of Dar es Salaam's public transport system over more than forty years. The growth of cities and informal economies are two central manifestations of globalization in the developing world. Taken for a Ride addresses both, drawing on long-term fieldwork in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and charting its public transport system's journey from public to private provision. This new addition to the Critical Frontiers of Theory, Research and Practice in International Development Studies series investigates this shift alongside the increasing deregulation of the sector and the resulting chaotic modality of public transport. It reviews state attempts to regain control over public transport and documents how informal wage relations prevailed in the sector. The changing political attitude of workers towards employers and the state is investigated: from an initial incapacity to respond to exploitation, to the political organisation and unionisation which won workers concessions on labour rights. A longitudinal study of workers throws light on patterns of occupational mobility in the sector. The book ends with an analysis of the political and economic interests that shaped the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit in Dar es Salaam, and local resistance to it. Taken for a Ride is an interdisciplinary political economy of public transport, exposing the limitations of market fundamentalist and postcolonial appraoches to the study of economic informality, the urban experience in developing countries, and their failure to locate the agency of the urban poor within their economic and political structures. It is both a contribution to and a call for the contextualised study of neoliberalism.

Dr. Portal brought a baffling case to Mme. Storey: Dr. Edgar McComb was found shot dead in his office. It attracted very little notice simply because there were no sensational circumstances. Now that a month had passed, it still remained a mystery. The police had nothing to go on. No clues of any sort. Nobody saw the assailant enter or leave the building; no fingerprints were found in the room save those of the doctor himself. And even more baffling, no possible motive for the crime had been unearthed.

What happens when Mr. Baig, a wealthy and entitled tourist expectant of seeing dozens of tigers on his first ever visit to an Indian forest, finds his safari driver and guide struggling to show him even one? Taken for a Ride, a work in the unusual genre of wildlife fiction, tells a story of disparity, subjugation, and of collateral losses and tragic dichotomies, as it all unfolds over a single safari, derailing the course of several lives, not all of which are human.

What is pension, planning and or recovery? Getting ready for the journey ahead. Will you be prepared for retirement?

It's 1930. The stock market crashed. The Great Depression is beginning. Hollywood is starting to rot underneath its glamour and lights. Nobody knows this better than producer Paul Russell. He has to save a movie studio from financial ruin. All he has at his disposal are a stack of horror scripts, some old sets, and unknown actors. The Hollywood pecking order applies to people as much as studios. Actress Lillian Nelson learned this lesson shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. Although she is dating Paul, she refuses to let him give her parts at his studio. She wants to make it on her own. Her attempt to overcome obstacles in order to insert herself into the public's heart is the stuff dreams and nightmares are made of in Hollywood. James Cagney, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Louise Brooks, and Jack Warner act as your guides while Take Her for a Ride peels back the skin of Hollywood's most glamorous age to reveal a core of talented businessmen, competent directors, and radiant stars.

Astrid Bell has known most of her housemates for years, but while they have a tangled history together—romantic pairings, one-night stands, friendships—each of them also has a past. Astrid is on her way home one day when her neighbor accidentally knocks her off her bike. Bruised but not broken, her roommates help her home. The next day, they learn that same neighbor was beaten to death only hours after the accident. Each of them tells the police what little they know and are dismissed—until Astrid stumbles over another body. Two brutal murders in less than a week is more than just bad luck. As the difference between friend and stranger grows harder to judge, and as the line between attraction and danger thins, the housemates—unsure if there's a killer in their midst—guard against becoming his next victim in this steamy and suspenseful thriller from internationally bestselling author Nicci French.

* "Another rollicking addition starring the porcine wonder. . . . Will keep newly independent readers turning the pages.--SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review) (ages 6-8) Features an audio read-along! Leroy Ninker is a small man with a big dream: he wants to be a cowboy, but for now he's just a thief. In fact, Leroy is robbing the Watsons' kitchen right this minute! As he drags the toaster across the counter – screeeeeech – and drops it into his bag – clannngggg – little does he know that a certain large pig who loves toast with a great deal of butter is stirring from sleep. Even less could he guess that comedy of errors (not to mention the buttery sweets in his pocket) will soon lead this little man on the wild and raucous rodeo ride he's always dreamed of! Nosy neighbors, astonished firemen, a puzzled policeman, and the ever-doting Watsons return for a new tongue-in-snout adventure about Kate DiCamillo's delightfully single-minded pig.

"In the Presence of the Master" is a series of stirring and insightful discourses given by Sadhguru. In his willingness to share, Sadhguru offers glimpses of the profound wisdom that is otherwise accessible to enlightened beings only. Offering the rare possibility to go beyond all limitations, a veritable Guru takes the seeker on a mystical journey towards the ultimate liberation. Considering a Guru as someone who is supposed to guide the seeker in his quest for self-realization, the statement “A Guru always takes you for a Ride” may sound provocative, contradictory and unjust, at first sight; however, there are comprehensible, even compulsory reasons for it. In this volume, Sadhguru delivers rare insights into the Guru-shishya relationship.