|
|
|
Reviews
| The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century. By Steven Watts. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. xv+614 pp., illus., notes, bibl., index. $30.00 hb (ISBN 0-375-40735-9).
|
Henry Ford is probably the most recognized name in automotive and industrial history. As a result, the volume of scholarship on Ford is so large that writing a new biography is quite a challenge to the biographer. Steven Watts has not only taken on this challenge but also has conquered it with wonderful results. The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century is a superbly written biography of a man well known and yet, as Watts argues, so unknown. Watts takes on Ford from a different angle, arguing that scholars have left nothing but a trail of unanswered questions. For example, just how instrumental was Ford in the creation of American culture in the 20th century? How could Adolph Hitler, Lenin, and the American people all admire the same man at the same time? What did Ford himself do to help create this myth, which allowed people with so many different ideals to praise him and his work? Watts sets out to answer these and other questions from another perspective. He maintains that other scholars take Ford from Ford's own perspective, relying too much on what Ford wanted other people to see in him. Watts tries, with much success, to find the real Ford—what other people really saw in him, not just what Ford saw in himself.
|
1
|
The book is divided into four sections, each one devoted a different aspect of Ford's life: formative years, rise as an industrialist, personal life, and, finally, ability to hold on to his legacy. Although the chapters are not strictly chronological, they do follow a general chronological order. Watts does an excellent job of transitioning from one section to the next. Like most biographers, Watts deals with past experiences and how they affected his subject's life. He takes the reader back to Ford's early life when discussing Ford's relationship (in his 50s) with Jews.
|
2
|
The People's Tycoon is able to weave many stories into one. For example, as the reader follows Ford's life, many other characters and events come alive. While Watts gives Ford most of the credit for accomplishments such as the Model T, innovations in automotive assembly, and the Rouge plant, just to name a few, he also describes how other people influenced Ford's successes and failures. As Watts masterfully weaves the reader in and out of Ford's tangled relationships, such names has Charles Sorensen, James Cozens, John and Horace Dodge, and Harry Bennett, etc., begin to come alive. They fight for and against him, while Ford solidifies his place in industrial and social history. Of particular interest is how Watts gives credit where credit is due. He takes the reader though the bumpy ride of Ford's rise to fame and fortune. For the first time, in a major Ford biography, Watts sheds light on Ford's short but important relationship with the Dodge brothers. They made important decisions that had a direct effect on the success or failure of the Ford Motor Company in its formative years.
|
3
|
Watts does not leave anything to chance, for he also lets the reader begin to understand how the time in which Ford lived allowed him to create his new American culture and legacy. He takes the reader behind the scenes of the 5-dollar day and Ford's ill-fated attempt to put an end to the Great War. His misunderstood relationship with labor unions and the Jews are also put to the test, with surprising results.
|
4
|
| Since this is a biography of Ford, the person, IA readers will be disappointed to find very limited industrial history. Watts does take readers though Ford's thoughts on scientific manufacturing and the creation of the Model T, but he has very few details on Ford's creation of the Rouge Plant and his other industrial forays, such as aviation. These are, however, minor complaints, for this is a story of Ford, the person, not Ford, the industrialist. Readers will find instead a deep dive into Ford's personality and how events in his life affected him and his relationships with others. With all the other articles and books about Ford, The People's Tycoon not only fits in but also rises to the top as one of the finest biographies of this misunderstood man. |
5
|
|
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|