Witch Hunt

The U.S. auto industry has a history like no other. What started as a cottage industry more than 100 years ago soon exploded into an industrial juggernaut, a glittering showcase for American industrial might and know-how that for decades was the envy of the world.

Then, it all started to unravel, and after years of teetering near disaster, the industry finally collapsed onto itself, a victim of its own complacency and serial incompetence, to be sure, but also a colossal casualty of a rapidly...