‘Janesville’ wins 2017 Business Book of the Year

Amy Goldstein has become the first solo female winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award for her book Janesville (S&S), which explores the impact of a factory closure on the local community.

Janesville, which was chosen from a shortlist of six to receive the £30,000 (A$51,682) prize, examines the consequences of General Motors’ decision to close an assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 2008, and the fates of workers and their families, local politicians, unions and companies in the region.

The judges said the book was ‘a work of enormous integrity, complexity and commitment’ that ‘every business person should read’.

‘Janesville is about the new industrial age and how you deal with it,’ said FT editor and chair of judges Lionel Barber. ‘I think it addresses deeply important policy issues such as skills and retraining. But it’s also a human portrait of people and their community.’

The Business Book of the Year Award was launched in 2005 and goes to the book that provides the ‘most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics’.

Mehran Gul won the £15,000 (A$25,835) Bracken Bower Prize for the best proposal for a business book by an author aged under 35. His proposal examines the rise of innovative start-ups beyond Silicon Valley.

For more information about this year’s award, visit the FT website here.

Category: International news