"America For Sale: How the Foreign Pack Circled and Devoured Esmark" by Craig Bouchard and James V. Koch doesn't issue surprise details to those who were close to the Esmark/Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. saga that ended with the sale of the local mills to Russia's Severstal.

The parts of the book dealing directly with the roughly two years the Bouchards were involved with Wheeling-Pitt are interesting and to those not so directly involved in knowing the day-to-day operations of the steelmaker, provide a lot of insight.

Beyond that, though, there is value to this book extending well beyond the Ohio Valley and its steel mills. Koch is an economist, and Bouchard, Esmark's vice chairman, has experience on Wall Street, including with development of the very software that was used to track derivatives.

The purpose of the book is more than just the devouring and sale of Esmark. It is about where America is headed and may be headed. Economically speaking, though detailed explanation and the reasoning of a businessman and an economist, Koch and Bouchard predict more of America's manufacturing interests will be sold in coming years, at a rapid pace because of the fall of the value of the dollar, to foreign firms.

The book laments the sale of the steel industry to companies and interests in former (or potentially future) international enemies of America.

Now, it will be duly noted the Bouchards did sign on the bottom line to complete a sale of former American-owned steel mills and finishing centers to a major Russian billionaire with ties to that nation's president, but it must also be noted that the Bouchards originally were intent on selling their steel company - and the local mills of the former Wheeling-Pitt - to India's Essar Steel.

The book does not offer reasoning as to why the United Steelworkers union and Esmark's chief investor, Franklin Mutual, were backing Severstal even when the initial value of its offer was less than that of Essar's, but does compliment the Steelworkers for their business acumen. Severstal eventually trumped Essar's offer.

The book does not accuse or confirm or deny that there was any deal for Severstal to buy W-P, the former WCI Steel in Warren and the Sparrows Point, Md., steel mill to unite into a new major steel firm in America (Severstal also owns the Rouge Steel complex in Dearborn, Mich.), but does note the union probably wanted another major steel firm in America to form.

The book also notes that the interests of business and shareholders and the national interest and the interests of communities are often in opposition.

Shareholders made out well in the Esmark sale to Severstal, but it is easy to say that workers and the communities of the former Wheeling-Pitt mills have suffered in the closure of the mills that followed, though the book notes that might have been the case regardless of the buyer due to the economy.

The book worries about protectionism making it too expensive to operate certain industries in the United States, to the detriment over the long haul, of the U.S. economy and individual communities and workers.

The book issues the most lasting worry about the lack of actual enforcement by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS is low visibility, the book notes, because it has rarely taken a stance against a foreign purchase of American assets.

Yet, having the domestic steel industry now more than 50 percent foreign owned, and, if the Bouchards' estimates are right, eventually more than 75 percent foreign owned, could be a defense nightmare. Ditto the sale of various technological advances and other systems, from material to finished goods.

"America for Sale: How the Foreign Pack Circled and Devoured Esmark" ends up being about much more than Esmark or Wheeling-Pitt. Rather, the book tries to sound a warning. America may indeed be for sale because of economic and monetary conditions, but at some point, perhaps a point already past, the sales have to be questioned in the national interest, beyond just shareholder value.

If no one is listening, then Esmark Steel remains a sad tale of a steel firm and communities left high and dry. If someone is listening, particularly in Washington, particularly at the CFIUS, the "For Sale" sign on American industry and technology could be a conditional one, to the benefit of the nation.

(Giannamore, a resident of Toronto, is business editor of the Herald-Star. He can be reached at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)