Our Weekly Read column features Fortune staffers' and contributors' takes on recently published books about the business world and beyond. We've invited the entire Fortune family -- from our writers and editors to our photo editors and designers -- to weigh in on books of their choosing based on their individual tastes or curiosities. This week, writer Katie Benner takes a look at Exile on Wall Street, outsider analyst Michael Mayo's insider look at MORE
Dec 29, 2011 5:00 AM ET
FORTUNE -- Allen Edmonds has been making high-end men's dress shoes since 1922. Every President from Reagan to Obama has worn the brand. Meanwhile, Allen Edmonds' popularity continues: Sales this year will rise 25%, to $100 million, says the Port Washington, Wis., company. A renewed interest in American classics (think Mad Men) has boosted demand. -- Anne VanderMey
By the numbers
212: The number of steps it typically takes to make a pair MORE
Dec 29, 2011 5:00 AM ET
With the Malibu, GM is taking another step in fulfilling a goal it has pursued in fits and starts for two decades: to engineer and design mainstream vehicles that can be built and sold worldwide.
By Doron Levin, contributor
FORTUNE -- The new Chevrolet Malibu, which reaches U.S. showrooms in a few months, is something of a major milestone for General Motors. It is GM's first true "world" midsize sedan. Virtually identical MORE
Dec 20, 2011 12:33 PM ET
Prairie State Energy Campus, a combination coal mine and power plant financed by Peabody Energy, could be the new model for the struggling coal industry.
By Ken Otterbourg, contributor
FORTUNE -- The list keeps growing. Closed and scuttled coal plants, victims of tough regulations and lower demand for power across the Midwest. This year saw closings announced by the Tennessee Valley Authority and AEP, one of the nation's largest private utilities. Earlier this MORE
Dec 20, 2011 10:18 AM ET
Editor's note: Every week, Fortune.com publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. This week, we look back at the career of Andrea Jung, the CEO of Avon. The company recently announced that it will replace Jung as CEO and that when it does, she will stay on as executive chairman. Jung has had a 12-year run as CEO of Avon, the longest of any female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. MORE
Dec 18, 2011 9:00 AM ET
Here is a selection of excellent wines that will make people stop to look at the label after their first sip.
By Gregory Dal Piaz, Snooth
When choosing wine as a gift, there are many considerations that you need to take into account. Is the region famous enough? Did it have a great vintage? Is the producer well known for delivering great wine? Will people realize how much I spend when they see the name? Does MORE
Dec 16, 2011 2:52 PM ET
Our Weekly Read column features Fortune staffers' and contributors' takes on recently published books about the business world and beyond. We've invited the entire Fortune family -- from our writers and editors to our photo editors and designers -- to weigh in on books of their choosing based on their individual tastes or curiosities. This week, Lawrence A. Armour takes a look at Erin Byers Murray's Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm.
FORTUNE MORE
Dec 16, 2011 12:53 PM ET
The nation's barge operators have to wage a continual, chaotic, slow-motion battle of logistics.
By Ken Otterbourg, contributor
Coal barges passing through the Kentucky Lock
FORTUNE -- A standard barge is 35 feet wide and 195 feet long. It is 12 feet deep and sinks nine feet below the surface when loaded, pushing through the water like a brick. A standard tow has 15 of these barges -- three wide and five MORE
Dec 16, 2011 5:00 AM ET
Editor's note: Every week, Fortune.com publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. This weekend, as we mark the 70th anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor, we remember the 2,390 Americans who died in the attacks. Here's an article from Fortune magazine, written about a year before the tragedy, about Hawaii and the U.S. government's investments in the naval base.
In peacetime the Hawaiian Islands offer lovely vistas of sugar cane, pineapples, MORE Dec 11, 2011 12:00 PM ET
Think you're spending a lot more for your French wines than you did in 1986? It all depends on which ones.
By Gregory Dal Piaz, Snooth
I complain about wine prices. A lot. Maybe I'm just jaded, or spoiled since I've been buying wine for so long, or perhaps my standard of living has simply eroded. Then again, I've grown more mature and understand the actual value of things and how hard MORE
Dec 9, 2011 10:33 AM ET
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