While sometimes oversharing extraneous details such as lunch meeting menus and flight schedules, Brown expertly evokes the 1980s era of greed-is-good corporate efforts. Illustrating the Scottsdale project’s backstory, Brown conjures the context and flavor of every step of CDM’s operation, including negotiating a construction agreement, examining Colorado River water quality issues, and recovering after the liquidation of its construction partner. All these proceedings are overseen by a cadre of colorful characters. Comfortable revealing personal details, Brown shares his own doubts peppered with bursts of determination.

Readers interested in large-scale construction and resource management projects will absorb Brown’s thorough overview of the Scottsdale project, the wins and the setbacks, and the intricacies of tax rates and sales documents. Professionals in any field can apply Brown’s information to a general business context, the enormous number of steps involved in corporate negotiations, and all the ways things can go wrong. This is useful and often gripping reading for MBAs and executives as well as urban planners and officials.

Takeaway: Readers interested in large-scale construction and resource management projects will be fascinated by this intricate recounting of privatizing a water treatment plant in the 1980s.

Great for fans of David McCullough’s The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: -
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A