| Description |
xv, 614 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 21 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 539-592) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue: the legend of Henry Ford -- pt. 1. The road to fame. Farm boy ; Machinist ; Inventor ; Businessman ; Celebrity ; Entrepreneur -- pt. 2. The miracle maker. Consumer ; Producer ; Folk hero ; Reformer ; Victorian ; Politician -- pt. 3. The Flivver king. Legend ; Visionary ; Moralist ; Positive thinker ; Emperor ; Father ; Bigot -- pt. 4. The long twilight. Antiquarian ; Individualist ; Despot ; Dabbler ; Educator ; Figurehead -- Epilogue: the sage of dearborn. |
| Summary |
Henry Ford, a major architect of modern America, has lived on in the imagination of his fellow citizens as an enduring figure of fascination, an inimitable individual, a controversial personality, and a social visionary from the moment his Model T brought the automobile to the masses and triggered the consumer revolution. Ford first made the automobile affordable, but grew skeptical of consumerism's corrosive impact on moral values; insisted on a living wage for his workers but opposed unions, established the assembly line but worried about its effect on the work ethic; welcomed African Americans to his company but was a rabid anti-Semite. Watts shows us how a Michigan farm boy emerged as one of America's richest men and one of its first mass-culture celebrities, became a folk hero to millions of ordinary citizens and yet also excited the admiration of Lenin and Hitler.--From publisher description. |
| Subject |
Ford, Henry, 1863-1947.
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Industrialists -- Biography.
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Automobile industry and trade -- History.
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Mass production -- History.
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| ISBN |
0375707255 (pbk.) : $16.95 |
|
9780375707254 (pbk.) |
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