Just read Lamar Muse's Southwest Passage . It's a very good book about Southwest's early history, the first 7 or so years, including how it started and how it succeeded in the first few critical years.
Muse was the founding CEO, the guy who found the money and started the carrier (Herb was also a founder, but spent almost all of his time on the legal side---which was also critical, because Braniff and Texas International would stop at nothing to crush Southwest any way they could, including through the courts).
Most recent books about Southwest (like Nuts and The Southwest Way) tend to be work of consultants or business school professors who seem to know little about the industry and are pushing a management theory---I find them 9/10ths fluff and very disappointing. Muse was there, had a couple of decades worth of airline experience, and his account is mostly nuts and bolts.
Further, the book is also pretty well written as well as informative. Muse gives some of his background, which is also pretty interesting---his father was a locomotive engineer, and the family bounced around as his father was able to bid better and better lines.
The book is probably not unbiased. It's Muse's view of what happened. But it's the first really detailed look that I've ever seen about how Southwest got its start and succeeded the first few critical years.
Definitely a potential stocking stuffer for your favorite airline geek this holiday season. I got my copy on Amazon---look up Lamar Muse or Southwest Passage.
Muse was the founding CEO, the guy who found the money and started the carrier (Herb was also a founder, but spent almost all of his time on the legal side---which was also critical, because Braniff and Texas International would stop at nothing to crush Southwest any way they could, including through the courts).
Most recent books about Southwest (like Nuts and The Southwest Way) tend to be work of consultants or business school professors who seem to know little about the industry and are pushing a management theory---I find them 9/10ths fluff and very disappointing. Muse was there, had a couple of decades worth of airline experience, and his account is mostly nuts and bolts.
Further, the book is also pretty well written as well as informative. Muse gives some of his background, which is also pretty interesting---his father was a locomotive engineer, and the family bounced around as his father was able to bid better and better lines.
The book is probably not unbiased. It's Muse's view of what happened. But it's the first really detailed look that I've ever seen about how Southwest got its start and succeeded the first few critical years.
Definitely a potential stocking stuffer for your favorite airline geek this holiday season. I got my copy on Amazon---look up Lamar Muse or Southwest Passage.
