Acnowledgments. 1. Farmboy, Tinkerer.
2.The Horse is Gone.
3. Rearview Mirror: Ford the "Automobileer" in 1900.
4. Who Can't Afford a Fordmobile?.
5. Hunka Tin.
6. The Five Dollar Day.
7. Rearview Mirror: The Crystal Palace in 1914.
8. War on Several Fronts.
9. Joy Ride.
10. Farewell, Lizzie.
11. Chronicle of the Neglected Truth.
12. The Little Man in the Basement.
13. Rearview Mirror: The Crown Prince at Work and at Play.
14. Airships and Time Machines.
15. An Invitation to Organize.
16. Bullets and Frescoes.
17. A Matter of Style.
18. The Overpass.
19. Rearview Mirror: Battling "Fordism" in 1937.
20. A New Social Order.
21. You Know How Father Is.
22. Running on Empty.
23. Rearview Mirror: The Last Years of the Flivver King.
Postscript. Ford After Ford.
Notes.
Selected Bibliography.
Picture Credits.
Index.
RICHARD BAK is a veteran journalist who grew up in Detroit and now lives in Dearborn, Michigan. Bak, who worked on the assembly lines at Ford and Chrysler, has written widely on the Fords and the automobile industry. His twenty books include biographies of Charles Lindbergh and Joe Louis. Bak has received two book of the year awards from ForeWord magazine: one for a narrative history of Tiger Stadium and the other for a chronicle of Detroit?s first three centuries.
Bak (Detroit Across Three Centuries) gives new life to the
well-known story of industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947) and his
rise from Michigan farm boy to the powerful head of an automobile
manufacturing company. Deeply interested in anything mechanical,
Ford left the family farm to become a machinist's apprentice, an
engineer, a race-car builder and, in 1903, founded the Form Motor
Company. In 1908, the company produced the Model T, a simple
designed car form the average family that was wildly successful and
make Ford a millionaire. Responsible for implementing the assembly
line in the mass production of cars, Ford also initially provided
his workers with a living wage. In this engrossing history, the
author traces the power grabs at Ford Motor, focusing particularly
on the relationship between Ford and his only son, Edsel, both of
whom spring to life here. Although Form initially planned to have
Edsel take over the company, he relied on the advice of Henry
Bennett, the tyrannical security chief, who thought that Edsel was
a weakling. According to Bak, Edsel was a cultured, talented man
and an expert at designing cars. He did not share his father's
hatred of unions that translated into repeated violence against
organizers. Ford outlived his son, who dies of cancer, a death many
believed to have been hastened by conflicts with his father.
Despite their problems, Ford loved his son and was deeply grieved
by his death. Fully documented here (though not for the first time)
is Ford's virulent anti-Semitism, which he expressed through
articles in the Dearborn Independent. Photos. (Oct.) (Publishers
Weekly, August 18, 2003) One of many books on the Ford Motor
Company published in this, its centennial year, Bak's work focuses
on the relationship between founder and patriarch Henry Ford and
his son, Edsel. It is a true story perhaps better suited to a TV
movie: the strong-willed father runs the company with an iron fist.
marginalizing his talented son and instead relying on
fixer/brawlerwler Harry Benrtett. Why Ford Sr. embraced Bennett and
not his son comes down to ego. Even after Henry, at age 75, finally
turned the company over to his son, Bennett was still on the
payroll. Edsel died of cancer in 1943 after leading the Ford Motor
Company for only two years. An elderly Henry, loath to give lip his
leadership role, resumed the presidency. But while Edsel has often
been portrayed as a weak and ineffectual leader, Bak counters that
Edsel was a sensible manager whose creative business solutions
helped the company survive the many tough challenges in its first
decades. This work is valuable as both a sociological and a
psychological study, and business and automotive historians will
also be interested. ?Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. lib., Providence,
RI (Library Journal, September 15, 2003)
"...the book is rich in detail..." (Director, January 2004)
"...good at illuminating the often ridiculous quarrels between the
pair..." (Focus, February 2004)
"...offers a new perspective on the human drama that changed the
shape of Ford...must reading for anyone interested in business..."
(Bolton Evening News, 11 March 2004)
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