Her daughter is grieving for her best friend, who has succumbed to a malignant brain tumor. And Bodey herself has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Bad luck all around, she thinks, initially shrugging off an Environmental Protection Agency study of toxic emissions at Clare. The parallel stories, of company and citizen, keep alternating. With corporate gain comes personal loss.
Robust growth exacts a price.
It's just that it remains a novel in two parts. The book is at its best when spinning its textured corporate history. These segments are dense with American history. And he guides the growing company through patent scuffles, financial panics, incorporation issues, union organizing and, finally, environmentalism. The brothers are not portrayed as greedy.