{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345360443?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0345360443","authors":["Laton McCartney"],"book_id":"9780345360441","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/friends-in-high-places-9780345360441","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780345360441.jpg?v=13d724d333fce272","description":"“Riveting . . . exemplifies how business works by exploiting personal connections.”— Businessweek The Bechtel Group is a private company that shuns the limelight, yet it is one of the prime movers-and-shakers in the global economic arena. Founded by self-made millionaire Warren A. Bechtel as a risk-taking construction and engineering firm, the multibillion-dollar, multinational conglomerate is responsible for constructing the Hoover Dam, laying the Alaskan oil pipeline, and building half of the world’s nuclear power plants, for starters. But Bechtel did not complete these ambitious projects on its own; it did so with the help of such “friends” as Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Dwight Eisenhower, and former employees George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger. Bechtel’s access to high-ranking government officials is unparalleled in the private sector. And with that access comes the temptation to accept favors and influence policy. Business journalist Laton McCartney combines painstaking research and powerful reporting to tell here, for the first time, the explosive inside story of what really goes on at the company that changed the face of the globe. “McCartney has made an important contribution to understanding a powerful U.S. corporation and American business history.”— The Philadelphia Inquirer","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780345360441","publication_date":"19890408","publisher":"Random House Publishing Group","slug":"friends-in-high-places","subtitle":"The Bechtel Story: the Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World","title":"Friends in High Places"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POL040020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"World Politics","score":0.7552,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS069020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"International Economics","score":0.7509,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.7483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POL040020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"World Politics","score":0.7552,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS069020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"International Economics","score":0.7509,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.7483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BUS034000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Interest & Rates","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070160","confidence_band":"high","label":"Construction Industry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BUS077000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Corporate Histories","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"World Politics","score":0.7552,"slug":"world-politics"},{"label":"International Economics","score":0.7509,"slug":"international-economics"},{"label":"20th-Century America","score":0.7483,"slug":"20th-century-america"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in American business history and powerful corporations","Good for readers interested in corporate ties to government officials and policy"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Charles Constant","Peter Schweizer","HarperAudio"],"book_id":"9780062569363","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062569363.jpg?v=6142e53779257549","score":0.6938,"title":"Secret Empires","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062569363"},{"authors":["Arthur Herman"],"book_id":"9780812982046","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780812982046.jpg?v=784dc741ab819667","score":0.6722,"title":"Freedom's Forge","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780812982046"},{"authors":["Toby Stuart"],"book_id":"9781668001875","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668001875.jpg?v=5b023edb42a0e513","score":0.6635,"title":"Anointed","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668001875"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:biographies"],"label":"Biographies","score":0.0616,"slug":"biographies"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:political science"],"label":"Political","score":0.0493,"slug":"political"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:pop culture"],"label":"Culture","score":0.0449,"slug":"culture"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:business"],"label":"Business","score":0.0401,"slug":"business"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Corporate-government influence, American business history, Global infrastructure projects.","Themes: History, Biographies, Political.","Reading lane: World Politics and International Economics."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in American business history and powerful corporations","Readers interested in corporate ties to government officials and policy"],"themes":["Corporate-government influence","American business history","Global infrastructure projects"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":77,"goodreads_ratings_count":97,"goodreads_reviews_count":14,"quality_score":0.8803}}