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The New Men

Jon Enfield (Goodreads Author)

3.40 · Rating details · 50 ratings · 14 reviews

"For us, the new man, he is one of two things. First, he is the new worker, a man we instruct and investigate until his probation is complete. But also he is an idea. In the foundry, they make parts. On the line, they make autos. But in Sociological, we make men."

Tony Grams comes to America at the start of the twentieth century, set on becoming a new man. Driven to leave p ...more

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Paperback, 278 pages

Published May 2014 by Wayzgoose Press

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Jun 04, 2016 Cynthia rated it really liked it

Shelves: historal-ficton

This was an interesting story which is a historical fiction about one man, his family and the Ford company program. It was hard in Italy people had to do what they had to do to get by. Tony’s father gets into a little trouble once all is taken care of he moves his family to the states where the story takes off. This is a book about morals, working for what you get and being the best you can be. This story covers a lot of issues throughout history from spying, racism, morals, paranoia and a lot m ...more

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May 21, 2014 Michael rated it it was amazing

Imagine a world where one corporation or even one especially well-respected and followed businessman, can influence society down to the very choices that ordinary people made about who they married, where they lived and how they conducted their private lives. Okay, we live in that world. The New Men explores how we got there. You may know already about the miracle of the $5 a day wage that Henry Ford paid his workers, effectively building the middle class that sustained his company’s legacy for ...more

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May 20, 2014 Lourie rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, drama, historical-fiction, netgalley

*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***

“The New Men” is a historical fiction that follows the life of Tony Grams. Tony is an immigrant from Italy who has taken a job with Ford Motor Co. during a time when Ford offered five dollars a day to employees while all others were only offering two. Tony doesn’t work on the assembly line but has an unusual job in the Sociological Department which is charged with making “new men”.

This book is a dry yet subtle foray into ...more

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Jul 18, 2014 Kellie rated it it was amazing

This was a beautifully written book of the life of Ford workers working in very troubled times. Prejudice and distrust was the way of the times. Ford himself wanted his workers to be a certain way and went to great lengths to ensure the success of his company. His employees had to live a certain way and act appropriately or else their jobs were in jeopardy. Before reading this book I never knew the history of Mr. Ford but my husband had seen a documentary on him so he wasn't at all surprised whe ...more

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Apr 01, 2020 Jill Martin rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: )

Tony Gramas immigrated to the States from Italy in the early 1900s. He gets a job in the Ford plant in the Educational Department during the “Five Bucks a Day” era. Ford increased wages to $5 with benefits to keep their employees and keep turnover down. Tony’s job was to visit employees to judge whether they were living a clean life to qualify for profit-sharing bonuses. Early in the book, he meets beautiful Thia and they actually hook up a handful of times, but he was just a plaything for her. ...more

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May 14, 2014 Bookboy rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary, read-2014

“In Sociological, we make men.”

So says Tony Grams, an Italian immigrant to America at the start of the twentieth century who joins the Ford Motor Company as an investigator, charged with looking into the life, standards, morals and family of the men who work for Henry Ford. In return for living a sober, dedicated life, the men who work on the Model T are offered the chance to double their wages... but only if the investigators of Sociological sign off on it. But as a worldwide war, racial tensio “In Sociological, we make men.”

So says Tony Grams, an Italian immigrant to America at the start of the twentieth century who joins the Ford Motor Company as an investigator, charged with looking into the life, standards, morals and family of the men who work for Henry Ford. In return for living a sober, dedicated life, the men who work on the Model T are offered the chance to double their wages... but only if the investigators of Sociological sign off on it. But as a worldwide war, racial tension and the rise of labor trouble begin to put pressure on everyone associated with Ford’s company, Tony begins a love affair that may bring his own life crashing down around him...

The New Men is one of those books that if it had not been for browsing through Netgalley would never even have appeared on my radar. When I saw it in the History section, though, I was initially drawn to the cover, a stylish blue and black concoction that seems to have come out of a Prohibition-era gangster flick. The blurb disabused me of that notion, but the idea of a historical novel centred around turn of the century America and the rise of the Ford Motor Company still caught my fancy. I didn’t really know what to expect going in, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

The New Men is a well realised historical novel set in Detroit, which affords not only a glimpse of the strange new world that has arisen thanks to Ford’s revolutionary practices, but also gives an interesting look into the rise of our world. Through the eyes of Tony Grams, we learn about the Sociological program, Ford’s idea of sharing his profits with his workers, but only if they can pass a strenuous series of probing interviews and investigations into their lives. Whether it be how they spend their money, who their family is or what their moral standing is in the community, all of these elements are raked over and studied by the men of Sociological, men of which Tony Grams becomes a part.

Throughout the book, an underlying current of racism is prevalent, though not necessarily against men of a different skin colour. Each investigator is charged with looking into the lives of his fellow countrymen – so for example Tony is assigned to work with other ‘wops’, since his employers believe that he will be best able to deal with them and find ways of slipping them up. That racial tension becomes obvious in Tony’s encounters with two of his colleagues - Merry, on one side, who takes Tony under his wing, and Smythe on the other who seems to have developed a hatred for Tony based solely on the fact that he is from Italy.

This creates a very uncomfortable atmosphere throughout the novel – Tony is constantly under scrutiny himself and the pressure he feels drips from the pages. I would not suggest reading this if you’re in a bad mood or feeling a little down: the feeling of opression that reigns will only serve to push you even further! If read with the right frame of mind, though, the book turns into a tense thriller of a novel, as Tony becomes involved with corporate espionage and the fight for and against socialist influence in the Ford company.

Through Tony’s encounters with Thia, a divorcee he quickly falls in love with, we also get a glimpse into the way society’s mores are changing in this new world. The relationship forms the core of Tony’s story, as he falls in and out of bed with her and becomes more and more embroiled in her life. When Tony begins to put himself on the line for her and her family, things become even more tense as the novel builds towards a relatively dark ending.

The New Men is extremely well written, providing an impressive picture of the world at the time. However, it is also quite dry, with a main character it is often difficult to become attached to. Although we follow Tony through all of his ups and downs, I never found myself rooting for him as a hero, and he often seemed to endure and suffer through situations rather than affecting the world around him. Many of his choices are difficult to understand and relate to, so it may be difficult for some people to become invested in the story.

However, The New Men is a book that will stay with me. The themes explored are universal and the work put into creating this turn of the century world is impressive. The writing flows nicely and kept me engaged where the main character did not. It is not without its flaws, and yet it is a book I have found myself thinking about more and more ever since I closed the last page. Overall, I gave The New Men 3 Model-T’s out of 5. ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 Becky rated it liked it · review of another edition

In 1914 Henry Ford introduced a truly revolutionary idea - a $5 workday. The pay increase was in the form of profit sharing and the company had strict requirements for eligibility. To enforce this the Sociological department was created. Anthony Grams, an immigrant from Italy, is newly promoted to the department and believes he is part of something truly great. The job allows him to support his family and he's helping the company in creating a new work force. But Tony soon realizes the job isn't In 1914 Henry Ford introduced a truly revolutionary idea - a $5 workday. The pay increase was in the form of profit sharing and the company had strict requirements for eligibility. To enforce this the Sociological department was created. Anthony Grams, an immigrant from Italy, is newly promoted to the department and believes he is part of something truly great. The job allows him to support his family and he's helping the company in creating a new work force. But Tony soon realizes the job isn't all it's cracked up to be. The onset of WWI brings about a change in the US and with it come the harsh new realities of living in the United States.

This particular gem in American history is pretty fascinating all told. I had absolutely no idea that this had ever happened. On the one hand I'm in awe of an idea that seemed like the beginning of a fair wage but am shocked that investigators were allowed access to every piece of a person's life to determine if they were worthy. To give an example of what Enfield outlines as being undesirable traits, Sociological was apparently on the lookout for people who would be spending their hard earned wage in unacceptable ways - too much alcohol, gambling, and anyone who exhibited behavior beyond "clean-living." And of course undesirables weren't eligible.

At first, Tony is 100% behind his job. But when the checks and restrictions start to hit a little too close to home I think he begins to realize just how precarious his position and that of the workers really is. He himself has spent his money on prostitutes, is later blamed for a pregnancy he isn't responsible for (which seemed much like an act of vengeance), and sees in his own family behaviors he's supposed to weed out in Ford employees.

With the war, the whole sentiment in the US changes. As an immigrant he himself faces some of the prejudice but none so much as his friend Merry and as Thia's Jewish father. Tension escalates, bringing the plot to an inevitable tragic point.

The New Men is a pretty great historical fiction. I was not only impressed by how much effort Enfield obviously put into the history side of the tale (and he does outline some of his research in the Historical Note) but how well the story read as a whole. The characters were real and the plot was interesting. I'd worried that it would be too focused on labor issues and Ford, but that turned out not to be the case in the least.
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Jul 14, 2014 Diane Coto rated it liked it

This story is told by the protagonist, Tony Grams, whose father brought the family to America in 1899; Tony was only eight years old. As an adult, Tony was employed by Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1914, Ford introduced a Sociological Department which established rules of behavior for their employees. As encouragement, they dangled a $5 pay day rate to those employees who would allow themselves and their homes to be monitored by ‘investigators’. It enticed many as the $5 per day ra This story is told by the protagonist, Tony Grams, whose father brought the family to America in 1899; Tony was only eight years old. As an adult, Tony was employed by Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1914, Ford introduced a Sociological Department which established rules of behavior for their employees. As encouragement, they dangled a $5 pay day rate to those employees who would allow themselves and their homes to be monitored by ‘investigators’. It enticed many as the $5 per day rate was more than double their normal pay rate at that time. As part of the Investigator’s duties, they’d check the cleanliness of the home; their children’s school attendance; and monitored their bank records. They taught English to migrants and even held a graduation of sorts in which the graduates appeared with their ‘old world’ clothing. After going into a simulation of an ‘American Melting Pot’, they’d reappear dressed in ‘American’ clothing – ‘new men.’ Tony became one of the Investigators.

The period of Tony’s story covers the time in America from 1914 to ca. 1920. The period covered the newness of automobiles and trolley cars; World War I and the Michigan ‘Polar Bear’ unit; racial bias against Jews and Blacks; Women’s Suffrage; prohibition; and the beginnings of the Roaring Twenties. I enjoyed how well the history was expressed. Jon Enfield, the author, said the following as part of his ‘Historical Note’.

“… although a great deal of The New Men is factually accurate (often painstakingly so) and intended to reflect accurately how people at the time thought and were able to think – and although I’m proud of that accuracy – I still didn’t hesitate to tweak, omit, or imagine details, events, and characters where doing so made the novel come to life.”

I was strongly pulled in at the beginning of this story as I have a keen interest in history, and this historic part of our nation was unknown to me. Though the subject matter is a great premise for a novel, the book does tend to slow a bit and transitions in scenes were not smoothly executed at times. I rated The New Men at 3 out of 5.

http://www.fictionzeal.com/new-men-ma... ...more

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Jun 03, 2015 MsFolio rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook

Jon Enfield provides a thoughtful and entertaining insight into Henry Ford's Five Dollar Day and the ramifications for the thousands of Ford workers.

Set at the beginning of the 20th century, in Detroit, the manufacturing of the Model T Ford provides and the decision to offer double the average hourly rate to keep staff turnover low provides new wealth for Fords workers. But it also leads to close supervision of family and home lives - to prevent a possible upsurge in drinking, gambling and deba ...more

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Apr 27, 2016 Mandy rated it liked it

I can’t fault this book for the amount of research that went into it, and as a work of historical fiction it felt both accurate and convincing. I very much enjoyed learning more about the burgeoning and increasingly successful Ford Motor Company in Detroit, where Henry Ford was building up not just a company but investing in a company ethos and a desire to build “new men” with a range of sociological methods to ensure his workers remained committed – indeed beholden – to him. We follow the fortu ...more

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Sep 02, 2015 Eddy8331 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent Marriage of History and Ficton

I awarded this book five stars because it's a jolly good read. I am a historian normally studying America in the period 1910 to1945. This book is a far better way for the casual reader to learn a little history and enjoy the time reading it. I only wish it was longer! ...more

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Jun 20, 2014 Leila rated it really liked it

This literary and inventive novel offers interesting characters and a compelling plot, as well as a fascinating look at parts of American history that are not often covered in historical fiction.

You can read my full review here: http://leilarice.blogspot.com/2014/08... ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Margelong1952 rated it it was ok

Expected so much more from this book. Wanted insight into the lives of the workers who were being 'educated' by Ford. What I got was a story that was disjointed and difficult to follow. ...more

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About Jon Enfield

Jon Enfield

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Jon Enfield has written for a range of audiences and publications. His work has appeared in Conjunctions, Poetry Ireland Review, Underground Voices, Xavier Review, and Forbes.com. He is a former fiction editor of Chicago Review, and he taught writing at the University of Southern California for several years. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago for his dissertation on t ...more

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