false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178805506m/838460.jpg 838460 1 In conjunction with its 100th anniversary, the Ford Motor Company opened its monumental archives to the unfettered research of author/historian Douglas Brinkley. And while the 800-page history that resulted from that work (as well as Brinkley's tireless, amply footnoted source work elsewhere) is comprehensive to a fault, the scope and enduring impact of the industrial colossus wrought by Henry Ford make it often seem like mere introduction. Brinkley's meticulous, enlightened work can't help but find endless fascination with the company's founder, whose presence resonates through every phase of the company's history, from its fitful start (FMC was the third company to bear the Ford name), through the rise of the Model T (still one of the most ubiquitous and revolutionary mechanical contrivances of the last millennia), to its cycles of corporate decay and rebirth (variously via Iacocca's Mustang in the 60's and the technical innovations and potent retrenchment of trans-nationalism in the 90's). Henry Ford remains one of the greatest human paradoxes in a century filled with them: a largely self-taught engineer who couldn't read a blueprint, yet became a mass-production visionary; an employer whose social conscience (and no small amount of shrewd business acumen) doubled the salary of his employees one era, employed thugs to crush their union organizing efforts the next; a world figure who read little, yet published much, including anti-war editorials and vile, anti-Semitic tracts--despite the fact that his monumental manufacturing facilities were designed by Jews whose friendship and professional relationships he cultivated. The enviro-social impact of Ford's industrial innovations continues to loom, and Brinkley hardly ignores them. But his research is largely focused on the rich players (and their often perplexing psychology) of the Ford saga, all-too-human characters whose ambitious empire will continue to cast its long shadows over many a generation to come. <I>--Jerry McCulley</I> 824035 1 6 2004 Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress total:10|5:2|4:5|3:3|2:0|1:0| 10 39 21 1 0 0 false false Sat Jul 21 22:34:53 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 21 22:35:56 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue Nov 17 15:00:31 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 15:00:31 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 13:12:18 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 13:12:30 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jun 24 19:42:24 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 19:42:28 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Apr 03 21:38:19 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 23:32:00 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 22 21:24:40 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 21:25:21 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Mar 21 08:46:07 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 08:46:07 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Mar 14 22:51:16 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 14 22:51:16 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Feb 17 18:32:40 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 18:33:01 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jan 27 16:12:55 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 16:12:55 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Dec 18 07:39:02 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 07:39:09 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Fri Nov 28 20:32:05 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 20:32:05 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Dec 23 14:34:59 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 12 07:14:32 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 14:34:59 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Oct 29 12:21:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 12:21:00 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Sep 09 10:43:10 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 10:43:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Jul 16 21:05:57 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 16:15:55 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed May 28 12:24:45 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 12:25:25 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed May 28 06:39:43 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 06:41:49 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Mon Apr 28 18:40:44 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 10 14:20:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jan 04 08:01:53 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 08:01:56 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=838460