cover image Perfecting a Piece of the World: Arthur Imperatore and the Blue-Collar Aristocrats of A-P-A

Perfecting a Piece of the World: Arthur Imperatore and the Blue-Collar Aristocrats of A-P-A

David Rounds. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, $23.33 (292pp) ISBN 978-0-201-56794-6

In profiling Imperatore, the work-focused and charismatic founder of A-P-A Transport Corporation, the nation's fourth largest interstate freight trucking company, journalist-author Rounds provides a highly readable descriptive analysis of an entire industry that is essential to almost every aspect of American life. We learn about round-the-clock hauling and the intricate loading required for shipping raw material, supplies, equipment, food and retail products. Rounds describes the arduous, often hazardous loneliness of the drivers; he discusses the Teamsters Union and Mafia connections and the historically fluctuating trends in government regulation and market competition. Imperatore is characterized as a rags-to-riches multimillionaire whose cheerful, hands-on personalized management style--and acumen in utilizing the diesel engine and U.S. superhighways--inspires a degree of employee pride and loyalty that completely baffles A-P-A's competitors. (Sept.)