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The Resource Henry Ford, Vincent Curcio

Henry Ford, Vincent Curcio

Creator
Summary
"Most great figures in American history reveal great contradictions, and Henry Ford is no exception. He championed his workers, offering unprecedented wages, yet crushed their attempts to organize. Virulently anti-Semitic, he never employed fewer than 3,000 Jews. An outspoken pacifist, he made millions producing war materials. He urbanized the modern world, and then tried to drag it back into a romanticized rural past he'd helped to destroy. As the American auto industry struggles to reinvent itself, Vincent Curcio's timely biography offers a wealth of new insight into the man who started it all. Henry Ford not only founded Ford Motor Company but institutionalized assembly line production and, some would argue, created the American middle class. By constantly improving his product and increasing sales, Ford was able to lower the price of the automobile until it became a universal commodity. He paid his workers so well that, for the first time in history, the people who manufactured a complex industrial product could own one. This was "Fordism"--social engineering on a vast scale. But, as Curcio displays, Ford's anti-Semitism would forever stain his reputation. Hitler admired him greatly, both for his anti-Semitism and his autocratic leadership, displaying Ford's picture in his bedroom and keeping a copy of Ford's My Life and Work by his bedside. Nevertheless, Ford's economic and social initiatives, as well as his deft handling of his public image, kept his popularity high among Americans. He offered good pay, good benefits, English language classes, and employment for those who struggled to find jobs--handicapped, African-American, and female workers. Such was his popularity that in 1923, the homespun, clean-living, xenophobic Henry Ford nearly won the Republican presidential nomination. This new volume in the Lives and Legacies series explores the full impact of Ford's indisputable greatness, the deep flaws that complicate his legacy, and what he means for our own time"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xiii, 306 pages
Contents
  • Machine generated contents note:
  • Introduction
  • 1. How it all began
  • 2. Walking into the future
  • 3. Cooking with gas
  • 4. The Ford Motor Company
  • 5. The Model T and the coming of mass production
  • 6. Peace and war and consolidating power
  • 7. Modern times
  • 8. Has something come between us?
  • 9. A body in motion tends to stay in motion
  • 10. Everything old is new again
  • 11. Efflorescence and hard endings
Isbn
9780195316926
Instance
Label
Henry Ford
Title
Henry Ford
Statement of responsibility
Vincent Curcio
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Most great figures in American history reveal great contradictions, and Henry Ford is no exception. He championed his workers, offering unprecedented wages, yet crushed their attempts to organize. Virulently anti-Semitic, he never employed fewer than 3,000 Jews. An outspoken pacifist, he made millions producing war materials. He urbanized the modern world, and then tried to drag it back into a romanticized rural past he'd helped to destroy. As the American auto industry struggles to reinvent itself, Vincent Curcio's timely biography offers a wealth of new insight into the man who started it all. Henry Ford not only founded Ford Motor Company but institutionalized assembly line production and, some would argue, created the American middle class. By constantly improving his product and increasing sales, Ford was able to lower the price of the automobile until it became a universal commodity. He paid his workers so well that, for the first time in history, the people who manufactured a complex industrial product could own one. This was "Fordism"--social engineering on a vast scale. But, as Curcio displays, Ford's anti-Semitism would forever stain his reputation. Hitler admired him greatly, both for his anti-Semitism and his autocratic leadership, displaying Ford's picture in his bedroom and keeping a copy of Ford's My Life and Work by his bedside. Nevertheless, Ford's economic and social initiatives, as well as his deft handling of his public image, kept his popularity high among Americans. He offered good pay, good benefits, English language classes, and employment for those who struggled to find jobs--handicapped, African-American, and female workers. Such was his popularity that in 1923, the homespun, clean-living, xenophobic Henry Ford nearly won the Republican presidential nomination. This new volume in the Lives and Legacies series explores the full impact of Ford's indisputable greatness, the deep flaws that complicate his legacy, and what he means for our own time"--
Member of
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Biography type
individual biography
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Curcio, Vincent
Dewey number
  • 338.7/6292092
  • B
Index
index present
LC call number
CT275.F68
LC item number
C87 2013
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
Series statement
Lives and legacies series
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Ford, Henry
  • Industrialists
  • Automobile industry and trade
  • United States
  • HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Business
Label
Henry Ford, Vincent Curcio
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction -- 1. How it all began -- 2. Walking into the future -- 3. Cooking with gas -- 4. The Ford Motor Company -- 5. The Model T and the coming of mass production -- 6. Peace and war and consolidating power -- 7. Modern times -- 8. Has something come between us? -- 9. A body in motion tends to stay in motion -- 10. Everything old is new again -- 11. Efflorescence and hard endings
Control code
1412620
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xiii, 306 pages
Isbn
9780195316926
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012043539
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • (Sirsi) 1412620
  • (OCoLC)795759748
Label
Henry Ford, Vincent Curcio
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction -- 1. How it all began -- 2. Walking into the future -- 3. Cooking with gas -- 4. The Ford Motor Company -- 5. The Model T and the coming of mass production -- 6. Peace and war and consolidating power -- 7. Modern times -- 8. Has something come between us? -- 9. A body in motion tends to stay in motion -- 10. Everything old is new again -- 11. Efflorescence and hard endings
Control code
1412620
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xiii, 306 pages
Isbn
9780195316926
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012043539
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • (Sirsi) 1412620
  • (OCoLC)795759748

Subject

Genre

Member of

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