The book that inspired HBO's documentary "Agnelli." The Economist calls it "a crackling business yarn." Mondo Agnelli is the definitive account of how the Agnelli family founded carmaker Fiat in 1899 and single-mindedly built it into Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, now Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest automobile company. The first half of the book traces Fiat's rise from an idea Agnelli had in a Turin café to an industrial colossus that was once worth 5 percent of Italy's gross domestic product. It documents the Agnelli family's unique blend of glamor, taste, influence and tragedy that make them "Italy's royal family" and the Mediterranean equivalent of the Kennedy clan. The second part looks at how Sergio Marchionne brought Fiat back from the brink starting in 2004 after the family nearly lost the ailing carmaker. The final segment recounts how Fiat took control of a bankrupt Chrysler for free in 2009, when Marchionne and his team revived an American icon that had been left for dead through, and paved the way for the January 2021 merger with French competitor PSA. Jennifer Clark "keeps the story moving along nicely, from Giovanni to Gianni to Marchionne. She is especially good at conjuring a sense of place, whether in the Fiat factories or the many Agnelli villas and funerals that dot the text," from New York Times Review, December 31, 2011. "But the soul of the book is the 113-year story of feisty Fiat and the larger-than-life Agnelli family. That's when it's time to click your seat belt for a yarn that's rich with affairs, suicides, drugs, family lawsuits, secrecy, hidden assets, offshore accounts, Benito Mussolini, princes and princesses, Jackie Kennedy, palaces and yachts, spectacular weddings, stately funerals and deep family loyalty." ( USA TODAY.com , February 2012) One of the few winners of the financial crisis, the Italian automaker Fiat made headlines around the world when it seemingly came out of nowhere to take control of the all-American car manufacturer, Chrysler. A surprising tale of unexpected outcomes, Mondo Agnelli: Fiat, Chrysler, and the Power of a Dynasty peels back the veil on an influential family that triumphed over miscalculation and tragedy through hard work, tenacity, and an ability to bend the rules. At the center of this epic saga are the remarkable stories of two very different menlongtime patriarch Gianni Agnelli and his grandson John Elkann. While Gianni was an elegant, silver-haired power broker and style icon who shaped the creation of the modern Fiat, the quiet and serious John was forced into the limelight in the wake of a traumatic loss and inherited a company on the brink of collapse. In the years following Gianni's death in 2003, John and members of the clan's close-knit inner circle stepped into the breach and tapped management mastermind Sergio Marchionne to spearhead the effort to save Fiat, which was losing millions of euros each day. But what could have been a Greek tragedy concluded with a Hollywood ending. Fiat's unlikely turnaround gave it the resources, vision, and management know-how to make its bold swoop on Chrysler in 2008, which together with loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments, positioned the company as a global trailblazer. Containing never-before-reported material about how Fiat quickly made Chrysler profitable where both Daimler AG and Cerberus, its previous owners, had struggled, Mondo Agnelli is sure to educate and fascinate business readers of all backgrounds. In order to remain in the top tier of the global auto industry in the coming years, the Fiat-Chrysler merger must succeed where most fail: in creating a single, seamlessly integrated trans-Atlantic company. The book presents a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at one of the most remarkable stories to come out of the financial crisis so far. One of the few winners of the financial crisis, the Italian automaker Fiat made headlines around the world when it seemingly came out of nowhere to take control of the all-American car manufacturer, Chrysler. A surprising tale of unexpected outcomes, Mondo Agnelli: Fiat, Chrysler, and the Power of a Dynasty peels back the veil on an influential family that triumphed over miscalculation and tragedy through hard work, tenacity, and an ability to bend the rules. At the center of this epic saga are the remarkable stories of two very different menlongtime patriarch Gianni Agnelli and his grandson John Elkann. While Gianni was an elegant, silver-haired power broker and style icon who shaped the creation of the modern Fiat, the quiet and serious John was forced into the limelight in the wake of a traumatic loss and inherited a company on the brink of collapse. In the years following Gianni's death in 2003, John and members of the clan's close-knit inner circle stepped into the breach and tapped management mastermind Sergio Marchionne to spearhead the effort to save Fiat, which was losing millions of euros each day. But what cou