Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation

A comprehensive history of the highs and lows of the Chrysler Corporation and its lasting impact on the automotive industry.

Chrysler has had an impressive list of technological ＂firsts＂ throughout the years--including the Chrysler Six of 1924 and front-wheel-drive vehicles in the ’70s and ’80s, to name just two. While the company has catered well to a variety of consumers, it has also come to the brink of financial ruin more than once in its seventy-five-year history.

In Riding the Roller Coaster, author Charles K. Hyde takes readers into the board room and onto the factory lines to tell the story behind Chrysler’s products, people, and performance. Outlining their history from the founding of the company through the major merger with Daimler-Benz, Hyde recounts the ups and downs of Chrysler’s monumental success turned colossal financial failure and sharp recovery. He pays special attention to the company’s leadership in automotive engineering, its styling successes and failures, and its changing management, including a special look at automotive powerhouses including Walter P. Chrysler and Lee Iacocca.

Charles K. Hyde is a professor of History at Wayne State University Press and is author of many books, including The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes (Wayne State University Press, 1995) and Historic Highway Bridges of Michigan (Wayne State University Press, 1993).