Steven Madeline

Corporate Warrior: a Novel Based on the Life of Lee Iacocca Steven Madeline

He was president of Cole Motors, one of the world's largest and grandest corporations. Above him, the top floor of the office tower, were the private quarters of the company's chairman, William Alistair Cole-known to many as King Cole. Martin had risen from the poverty of immigrant Italian parents. It was a career climb that would happen only in America. He had lived his entire life to fulfill the dreams of those uneducated parents. He had been the top-of-the-class A-student, the Ivy-League-college valedictorian, and the stellar management trainee. He had paid all the dues of a meteoric rise through executive ranks-hard work, long hours, political savvy and company loyalty. It had brought him to an enviable pinnacle; and provided unabashed admiration from his wife, son and daughter, mother and father. He had gained the respect of colleagues as well as competitors; the envy of business leaders everywhere, and the cheers of ordinary Americans who delighted in his underdog rise to the top. But now this poor boy's impossible dream would become an American executive nightmare. One that would shock the world. And it would bring crushing heartbreak onto a self-made man whose very signature was honor and pride.