I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford

Henry Ford was born on a farm in Dearborn, MI on 7/30/1863 and hated farming for as long as he could remember, while loving all things mechanical. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 4/7/1947 at his 56 room estate, which he called Fair Lane. Although that is the beginning and end, it is what is in between that makes this so interesting.William Ford, Henry's father, married Mary Litogot O'Hearn, the daughter of a neighbor in 1858 when he was 35 and she was 21. Henry, in turn met his wife Clara Jane Bryant the eldest neighbor's daughter who had nine siblings. They met in late 1885 and married on 4/11/1888. They had one son named Edsel Bryant Ford, who helped run Ford for a number of years until he died of stomach cancer on 5/26/1943. Henry always thought Edsel was never tough enough, but still seemed to love him, without ever giving him much in the way of praise. Yet Edsel was the likeable son who got along with everyone at Ford, and everyone seemed to like him, except for some internecine factions trying to curry Henry's favor by encouraging his feelings of Edsel being somewhat of a softy. It should be noted that people always addressed Henry as MR. FORD, and that extended to his wife and son.Henry's method of success was to hire the best man for each position he needed to fill, yet he was such an egotist and paranoid individual that he became quickly jealous if anyone besides him received praise for the their job. If they did they were soon fired, and no one ever talked back to him or dared say there might be another way to do things including changing the Model T and stayed employed. Henry produced the first Model T on 9/24/1907 and the millionth one in December of 1915.By 1917, Ford had become the largest employer of African Americans in the USA. [p209] Yet this seemed to be negated by the fact that "At the end of 1913, the Ford managers discovered that that were having to hire 963 workers to be assured that 100 of them would stay with their jobs long enough to learn them." [p210]He started a company sociology department to help primarily poor and undereducated workers, which seemed beneficent until it was realized that the rules were extremely paternalistic so that he would only hire married men if they were under age 22. They even had to get permission from Ford to buy the very car they helped manufacture. And it was no joke that if you were seen driving another make of car you were fired immediately. "In 1914 the average Ford worker had 207.10 in savings. For those who stuck with the company the next five years, the average has risen to 2171.14." [p235] This came about primarily because on 1/12/14 Ford reduced the standard work day from nine to eight hours, and at the same time increased the minimum daily wage from 2.34 to 5 dollars per day, thereby forcing all other automobile manufacturers to do the same.Ford certainly had his shortcomings and among the most severe was his EXTREMELY anti-Semitic stance, which he made public by buying the Dearborn Independent newspaper for that sole purpose. He ran 91 successive weeks of anti-Semitic articles, before stopping by claiming he didn't know what was being printed in a paper he owned, and also paying millions in libel damages. [pp270-272]But Henry wasn't the dour faced Episcopalian one might think for he seemed to have kept a mistress for thirty five years, actually flaunting her presence at times. Evangeline Cote began in the stenographic pool in 1912 at age 16; three years later she was its head. To help dissuade casual outsiders from suspecting any shenanigans he had her marry another employee named Ray Dahlinger, who worked in various minor supporting roles. Evangeline eventually ran Greenfield Village. He bought her harness racing horses and too many other things to mention. He bought the Dahlingers a house as a wedding gift, a cottage on Lake Huron, then a 300 acre Tudor estate a mile from Fair Lane with 100 head of cattle, and on top of that a Curtiss Flying Boat. Not bad for a stenographer, huh??? He thought she produced him a son named John Cote Dahlinger on 4/9/1923. Although there was no DNA back then Henry treated the boy as his and showered him with too many gifts to list. This part of the book was some of the most interesting.As the author said of Henry near the end, "When I got to know him better, I liked him more, and less." A very interesting read of the man who remains somewhat of an enigma beyond his public persona. BTW Mrs. Ford invited Evangeline to come and see Henry for the last time as he lay dying, so he could be with each of them. Mrs. Ford died in 1950. Now that is one helluva lady.

The author of this book about Henry Ford has clearly put a great deal of effort into researching the life of the famous industrialist, but the resulting work falls short in several areas. While the first half of the book is well-written and engaging, it seems as though the author may have grown fatigued with the subject matter, resulting in a final chapter that feels rushed and incomplete. Unfortunately, this means that there is little coverage of events that occurred after the production of the Model T, such as Fordlandia and other key events in the 1930s. Additionally, the book's chronology is somewhat erratic, which can make it difficult for readers to follow the progression of events in Ford's life. Despite these shortcomings, the book does provide valuable insights into Ford's early years and his contributions to the automobile industry. However, readers who are looking for a more comprehensive biography of Henry Ford may be disappointed by the book's lack of detail about his later years.

One of the best books of recent release.Begin with a poor dirt farmer's son with a love for what makes things work but a hatred for farming, a creative genius second to none, the spirit of an entrepreneur par excellence, and ceaseless energy toward experimentation and perfection and you have the foundation for an interesting story.What must a writer have to make that backdrop interesting, pull a reader into that story, hold him or her and entice each one into wanting more and more of what they are reading?First, Richard Snow had to possess a wordsmithing skill sufficient to bring together all the elements of a growing industrialization, a change in manufacturing techniques, the realities of a world political situation, and the marketing of a new phenomenon, the automobile. He hit a bull's eye on all counts.Secondly, Snow must have a working vocabulary and the language of a bygone period, be comfortable with principles of economy, social mores, and human nature of a time before most of his readers were even born. Then the difficulty of the task takes over and proves or disproves the skillset of the author, his mastery of syntax, his understanding of history, and his comprehension of politics, war, economics, and the human spirit; again right on the money.How does a writer weave an interesting work that ends up to be so fascinating, so interesting, so rewarding, that a reader comes away having learned valuable things, experienced true emotion, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the discomfort of error with the necessity of trial?Snow portrays a young Henry Ford, a person of honor, honesty, integrity, drive, tenacity, and brilliance in a storyline that is sure to capture and hold the reader for the entire span of the book. To do that, the author must capture the essence of Ford's evolving character. He must treat with unenhanced, factual, yet unbridled honesty the meteoric rise of a man within the manufacturing industry who will eventually become perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful and influential man in America complete with celebrity and opportunity.But as with any absolute that is pursued and achieved by human endeavor, the kind and degree of success enjoyed by Ford comes with a price. It brings a kind of insanity that develops in its host a god complex in which he thinks on one hand that he is god, but the madness causes him to forget that he is not. This pseudo divinity prompts the main character to delve into areas for which he was not suited nor is he capable of survival.Ford's character was tarnished several times by his indiscretions, anti-Semitism, lack of understanding of human needs and motivations, and narrow minded thinking that he could fix anything that was malfunctioning, including the inner workings of a major world war.Richard Snow has given the discerning masses a work that deserves to be read, is guaranteed to please and educate, and is as riveting as any thriller I have reviewed. He is a master of creating word pictures easily understood regarding even the most difficult of circumstances.Henry Ford was a very simple yet complex individual; an enigma of sorts, a dichotomy of power mongering and humanitarian contributions, and lastly a generous and giving, selfish and self centered egotistical, extravagant and eccentric hero. But he was a hero of the times who suffered ridicule and for a while was rendered anathema by the media, public opinion, and even labeled a traitor by some, all because of his lack of discretion in things he was ill-suited to attempt.This book is priceless; it is an extremely well-written story that will take the reader to the heights of satisfaction.

a must have book if you are a ford fan.exellent read about the man who gave us the best cars on the roads today.gives a more understanding knowledge of not only the car maker but the man himself.

Mediocre book with some confusion and highly edited parts regarding "sensitive" events... It should have been a fascinating book since Ford was almost as amazing as Tesla, however political correctness killed it.

A must read for all C-Suite executives