Description

Easton Press leather edition of Keith Sward's "The Legend of Henry Ford," Foreword by G.R. Funkhouser, Ph.D., one of the LIBRARY OF GREAT LIVES series, published in 1989. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has camel tan moire silk end leaves, a satin book marker, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition. COLLECTOR'S NOTE is included. Henry Ford, who lived from 1863 – 1947, was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, he converted the automobile from an expensive luxury into an accessible conveyance that profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century.His introduction of the Ford MODEL T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As the Ford Motor Company owner, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism," the mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout North America and major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to permanently control it. Ford's stature as a revolutionary technologist was heightened by the fact that his corporation was family-owned. Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I---threatening his employees that they would lose their jobs if they heeded President Wilson's call-up for patrol duty along the Mexican border n 1916. However, Ford supported the war effort in World War 2 when he closed his automobile factories and converted them to produce airplane parts at his Willow Run factory. Henry Ford put American on wheels, changing the nation's appearance and its way of life. In 1914, Ford began paying workers $5.00 per day when the average wage was $11.00 per week. Ford was eccentric and in the 1930s he demanded that his employees stop drinking liquor either in public or even in the privacy of their homes----or face the pain of dismissal. In 1926, he instituted the 40-hour work week. Ford was a major force in shaping modern America. He dallied with mechanized farming, became a square dance fanatic, and established an immense, eclectic museum of nostalgia---even if he did once say that "history was more or less bunk!" Ford knew the other "shakers and movers" of his time including THOMAS EDISON, HARVEY GOODYEAR, CHARLES LINDBERGH, and PRESIDENTS HOOVER, ROOSEVELT and TRUMAN. 501 pages, including an Index. I offer Combined shipping.