"From an acclaimed popular historian comes a fresh, meticulous, and entertaining account of Henry Ford and his invention of the Model-T--the machine that defined the dawning age in America. Every century or so, our republic has been changed by a new technology: 170 years ago it was the railroad; today it's the microprocessor. But in the early twentieth century it was the gasoline-combustion engine, built by a young, unknown, industrious man named Henry Ford. Born into a steam-powered world, the young farm boy saw the advantages of internal combustion; using his innate mechanical abilities, hard work, and imagination he transformed our nation's industry and went on to become an American icon. In many ways, his story is well known; in just as many other ways, it is not. Richard Snow weaves together a fascinating narrative of Ford's rise to fame--as well as his creative personality and spirit--through his greatest invention, the Model T. The car transformed our nation in a decade, and made Ford a national hero. But then Ford soured, and the benevolent side of his character went into an ever-deepening eclipse, even as the cultural change he initiated remade America. Snow, who "writes with verve and a keen eye" (The New York Times Book Review) has written a highly pleasurable read, and shows us the remarkable man who invented the modern age"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes six unnumbered pages of interview with the author.

1. A homecoming : Saving the farm, then saving the entire past -- Between the steam engine and the Apple -- "Nobody knew anything about cars" -- Fordism -- 2. "My toys were all tools" : The boy who hated farming -- McGuffey's "new green world" -- Steam and clockwork -- A house without a mainspring -- "The biggest event in those early years" -- Into Detroit --3. Clara : "He's a thinking, serious person" -- Winning a dead man's job -- Electricity -- A baby and a seventh home -- The Christmas Eve engine -- 4. Working from the ground up : Making a car in a world without any -- "A colorless, limpid, innocent-appearing liquid" -- The Bagley Avenue woodshed -- America's first car race -- Henry Ford's first car -- 5. What Edison said : Ford's first sale -- "There's a young fellow who has made a gas car" -- Ford's first company -- A winter drive with "civilization's latest lisp" -- Dissolution: "Henry wasn't ready" -- 6. "Glory and dust" : "We had to race" -- Smiling Billy's World's Championship Sweepstakes -- Ford vs. Winton: "a thin man can run faster than a fat one" -- The Henry Ford Company -- "The materialization of a nightmare" -- 7. The seven-million-dollar letter : Malcomson's gamble -- From a toy printing press -- The Dodge brothers -- The Ford Motor Company -- "This business cannot last" -- The (first) Model A -- "Boss of the road" -- 8. Ford finds his greatest asset : "Who in hell are you?" -- Couzens bosses the boss -- The cars get shipped -- The importance of dealers -- An earthquake proves the Model A -- Parasites -- Who was Malcomson? -- 9. Inventing the universal car : Who wanted it? -- Sorensen's locked room -- Steering wheel on the left, forever -- New experts, new engine, new steel, new car -- "Without doubt the greatest creation in automobiles ever placed before a people -- 10. The man who owned every car in America : Selden files a patent on all gas-powered automobiles and sues their makers -- The court finds for him -- Most carmakers give in -- Ford won't pay "graft money" -- A second trial -- "One of the greatest things Mr. Ford did -- 11. The Model T takes over : New York to Seattle on thin ice -- Learning to drive the Model T -- Birth of a dealer -- The farmer and the car -- Caring for your Model T -- The perils of starting it -- "Funny stories about the Ford -- Five thousand accessories -- Remaking the nation in a decade: "I'll go without food before I'll go without my car -- 12. Terrible efficiency : The Crystal Palace -- Taking the work to the worker -- Speeding up -- The twentieth century's only industrial revolution -- The workers hate it -- 13. The five-dollar day : Couzens and his conscience -- "It's a good round number" -- Ford bids against himself -- "Every worker a potential customer" -- Ford at his zenith -- 14. Simple purposes : Telling workers how to live -- Ugly enough to be a minister -- War -- Ford on the American soldier: "lazy, crazy, or just out of a job" -- Couzens quits -- "Great war to end Christmas Day: Ford to stop it" -- From "peace angel to Vulcan" -- 15. The expert : The Rouge rises -- The Dodge brothers sue -- "We don't seem to be able to keep the profits down" -- Sandbagging the shareholders -- Probing Ford's ignorance in court: "did you ever hear of Benedict Arnold?" -- 16. The international Jew : The problems of civilization traced to their source -- The Dearborn Independent -- Liebold -- "Let's have some sensationalism" -- "Jewish degradation of American baseball" -- Two U.S. presidents ask Ford to stop his campaign -- He carries it on for ninety-one issues of the Independent -- Ford apologizes, saying he had no idea what was in his newspaper -- 17. The end of the line : Edsel -- His powerless power in the company -- Evangeline Dahlinger and her houses and horses -- The "executive scrap heap" -- How to join it: suggest changing the Model T -- Sales dwindle -- Edsel fights -- The last Model T -- What the car had done -- Epilogue : The Model A -- "The Rouge is no fun anymore" -- Buying every steam engine -- "Maybe I pushed the boy too hard" -- The reluctant armorer of Democracy -- To bed by candlelight.