Henry Ford

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-531692-6
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 144 mm x 218 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

Reihe: Lives and Legacies

Most great figures in American culture and history reveal great contradictions, but none more so than Henry Ford. Vincent Curcio's compact, lively biography offers new insight on the man who not only founded Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford Company (later Cadillac) but also institutionalized the assembly line production process and (some argue) created the middle class in America. Ford invented an entire physical, economic and social system through the assembly
line production of the Ford Model T automobile. By constantly improving his product, sales rose, enabling Ford to lower its price until it became a universal commodity. Ford created a market for this commodity by paying 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 Ford's anti-Semitism would forever stain his reputation and shadow his legacy. 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. Despite this, Ford's workers were loyal. Ford offered good pay, good benefits, English language classes, and employment for those who struggled to find jobs - handicapped, African-American and female workers.
Ford was a man both invigorated by the possibilities of modernism and yet conflicted by its implications. This new Lives and Legacies volume explores the dimensions of Ford's indisputable greatness while acknowledging the deep flaws that complicate his legacy.

Zielgruppe

General/trade

Autoren/Hrsg.

Curcio, Vincent

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Unternehmensgeschichte, Einzelne Branchen und Unternehmer
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
1. Henry Ford - 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. The Big Issues - Peace and War - Consolidating Power
7. Modern Times
8. Has Something Come Between Us?
9. Things he was Thinking About
10. Everything Old is New Again
11. Efflorescence and Hard Endings
Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Curcio, Vincent
Vincent Curcio, a veteran theatrical manager-producer, is the author of Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius. A long-time car enthusiast, he divides his time between Union City, New Jersey, Paris, and the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut.