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The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century Paperback – October 10, 2006

by Steven Watts (Author)

65 customer reviews

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How a Michigan farm boy became the richest man in America is a classic, almost mythic tale, but never before has Henry Ford’s outsized genius been brought to life so vividly as it is in this engaging and superbly researched biography.

The real Henry Ford was a tangle of contradictions. He set off the consumer revolution by producing a car affordable to the masses, all the while lamenting the moral toll exacted by consumerism. He believed in giving his workers a living wage, though he was entirely opposed to union labor. He had a warm and loving relationship with his wife, but sired a son with another woman. A rabid anti-Semite, he nonetheless embraced African American workers in the era of Jim Crow.

Uncovering the man behind the myth, situating his achievements and their attendant controversies firmly within the context of early twentieth-century America, Watts has given us a comprehensive, illuminating, and fascinating biography of one of America’s first mass-culture celebrities.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The implicit claim of Watts’s admirable book is almost inarguable–that it’s impossible to understand 20th-century America without knowing the story of Henry Ford.” –The New York Times

“Ford has had many biographers. . . . None, however, comes close to Steven Watts. . . . He brilliantly reveals the nature of Ford’s genius.” –Chicago Tribune

“Steven Watts attempts the most integrated understanding to date of Ford’s enormous influence and varied appeal. . . . The fascinating result may change the way Henry Ford is remembered.” –San Francisco Chronicle

From the Inside Flap

Henry Ford, a major architect of modern America, has lived on in the imagination of his fellow citizens as an enduring figure of fascination, an inimitable individual, a controversial personality, and a social visionary from the moment his Model T brought the automobile to the masses and triggered the consumer revolution. But never before has his outsized genius been brought to life so vividly as by Steven Watts in this major new biography. Watts, the author of the much acclaimed "The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, has produced a superbly researched study of a man who was a bundle of contradictions.
Ford was the entrepreneur who first made the automobile affordable but who grew skeptical of consumerism's corrosive impact on moral values, an employer who insisted on a living wage for his workers but stridently opposed unions, who established the assembly line but worried about its effect on the work ethic, who welcomed African Americans to his company in the age of Jim Crow but was a rabid anti-Semite. He was the private man who had a warm, loving marriage while siring a son with a mistress; a father who drove his heir, Edsel, so relentlessly that it contributed to his early death; a folksy social philosopher and at one time, perhaps, the most popular figure in America, who treated his workers so harshly that they turned against him; creator of the largest, most sophisticated factory in the world who preferred spending time in his elaborate re-creation of a nineteenth-century village; and the greatest businessman of his age who haplessly lost control of his own company in his declining years.
Watts poignantly shows us how a Michigan farm boy frommodest circumstances emerged as one of America's richest men and one of its first mass-culture celebrities, one who became a folk hero to millions of ordinary citizens because of his support of high wages and material abundance for everyday workers and yet also excited the admiration of figures as diverse as Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler, John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson.
Disclosing the man behind the myth and situating his achievements and controversies firmly within the context of early twentieth-century America, Watts has given us a comprehensive, illuminating biography of an American icon.

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Product details

Paperback: 656 pages
Publisher: Vintage; 1st edition (October 10, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375707255
ISBN-13: 978-0375707254
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 65 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #28 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Automotive
- #53 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Transportation
- #76 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Automotive > History

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D. L. POHLE

Thorough telling of the life and times of Henry Ford

January 21, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I was motivated to find out more about Henry Ford after visiting the outstanding Ford Museum in Detroit. This book is an exhaustive telling of Henry Ford's life, and the foundations of his phenomenal economic success. You will see how that success led him to believe (as seen by many great businessmen) that their magic touch in business led him to believe he had equal prowess in other areas, with often embarrassing or tragic results. He had some unusual beliefs and ideas that would have been given much less credence if he hadn't been incredibly rich. The lack of introspection and tendency to undermine others that were successful in the company due to an innate jealousy were troubling. Ford believed his own press clippings and longed for the old days (certainly helped in the creation of the Henry Ford & Greenfield village), while at the same time driving change and economic development. From my standpoint, the book dragged at times with overraught details that should have been condensed or summarized - I wanted to say "I get it'". Overall, well written, but would have enjoyed more if condensed by 25% or more. I liked the 1st half of the book more than the 2nd.

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V. R. Padgett

Excellent read

March 24, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Well written, and hard to believe at some points!

What a character Mr. Ford was. I think the greatest strength of this biography is the richness in detailing the everyday Mr. Ford-- the many delightful accounts of him encountering locals in anonymity, like the farmer who was cursing at his Ford-Ferguson tractor-- Old Henry Ford can shove this tractor up his backside! And there was Henry Ford, among the wealthiest men in the world, in overalls and a straw hat. Ford fiddled around under the hood, got the motor running.

Next day the man learned who his visitor had been, and expected to be fired, but Ford never let on that it had happened.

I wanted more technical details on his cars, but that is not this book. I read the section on the Dahlingers twice-- Watts really handles that well.

Did Ford increase his workers's wages by 100 percent in order to avoid paying out his accumulated horde of cash in dividends? He considered his stockholders to be "parasites," and I think the wage increase is best explained as his avoiding rewarding those investors, not in order to give his workers more money so that they could buy more Ford cars.

Suffers from too few photos. Has no maps and no diagrams.

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A. Kelly

The People's Tycoon

September 18, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I have recently returned from a first visit to beautiful Dearborn, Michigan. There I visited the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village and the Rouge and Flatrock factories. My experience was greatly enhanced by reading the excellent and engaging story of Mr. Henry Ford's life and his vital role in shaping modern 20th Century America offered by Professor Steven Watts. This remarkable chronicle of America's first "industrial celebrity" is not only academically sound, but a joy to read. It helped me understand this magnificantly complex and humane person. It helped me look into myself and at my fellow man in a different light.

The chapter dealing with The Great Depression era contained so many parallels with our current economic crisis. Ford's assesment of the New Deal on page 441 was sarcastically that "entrepreneurs should join the crowd 'to make it unanimous and have us all live off the Government' then all that is required 'to be perfectly happy is a new kind of Santa Claus who will keep the Government well supplied with money or anything else it wants' "; and again in 1935 he denounced plans for new taxes on business as destroying the very foundations of productivity and prosperity. Further in 1936 he argued passionately. "Both government and finance, whenever they get the chance, show the same avid desire to regulate and control the operations of producers."

I whole-heartedly recommend this landmark book to ALL without reservation. I am now ordering a book on the next chapter of Ford Motor Company about the life and times of Henry Ford II.
AGK - Birmingham, Alabama

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Most recent customer reviews

GaryinWI

Interesting but long

Henry Ford was a wonderful man and this book explains it in detail. Perhaps at times too much detail but that is just my personal opinion. That said I would recommend it.

Published 4 months ago

R. Campbell

A good book on a major transition period of American History.

A good book on a big block of American History. Well written and interesting.

Published 8 months ago

jammajecha

Five Stars

Great!

Published 9 months ago

hkm01

While the subject matter of Henry Ford's life is a ...

While the subject matter of Henry Ford's life is a fascinating topic, this book is very difficult to read.Read more

Published 11 months ago

Amazon Customer

Great book.

Impressive and interesting detail.

An entertaining book that has an incredible amount of automotive history.

Published 1 year ago

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Everything is perfect

Published 1 year ago

Amazon Customer

A wonderful paradox

A well-balanced and captivating history of one of the most interesting and influential characters of the early 20th century.Read more

Published 1 year ago

Charles M. Lamb

Five Stars

Much can be learned from this man.
I am a historian.

Published on October 7, 2015

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