Author: Tom Cotter
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 0760364648
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast. The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past? Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road. Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917. In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country. He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter. Join Cotter on his "slow drive across a fast country." You'll be glad you did.
Ford Model T Coast to Coast
Author: Tom Cotter
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 0760364648
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast. The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past? Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road. Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917. In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country. He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter. Join Cotter on his "slow drive across a fast country." You'll be glad you did.
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 0760364648
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast. The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past? Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road. Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917. In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country. He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter. Join Cotter on his "slow drive across a fast country." You'll be glad you did.
Another Fine Mess
Author: Tim Moore
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473554802
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
Tim Moore - indefatigable travelling everyman – switches two wheels for four as he journeys across Trumpland in an original Model T Ford. ‘Alarmingly full of incident, very funny – even mildly transformative’ Daily Mail Lacking even the most basic mechanical knowhow, Tim Moore sets out to cross Trumpland USA in an original Model T Ford. Armed only with a fan belt made of cotton, wooden wheels and a trunkload of ‘wise-ass Limey liberal gumption’, his route takes him exclusively through Donald-voting counties, meeting the everyday folks who voted red along the way. He meets a people defined by extraordinary generosity, willing to shift heaven and earth to keep him on the road. And yet, this is clearly a nation in conflict with itself: citizens ‘tooling up’ in reaction to ever-increasing security fears; a healthcare system creaking to support sugar-loaded soda lovers; a disintegrating rust belt all but forgotten by the warring media and political classes. With his trademark blend of slapstick humour, affable insight and butt-clenching peril, Tim Moore invites us on an unforgettable road trip through America. Buckle up!
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473554802
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
Tim Moore - indefatigable travelling everyman – switches two wheels for four as he journeys across Trumpland in an original Model T Ford. ‘Alarmingly full of incident, very funny – even mildly transformative’ Daily Mail Lacking even the most basic mechanical knowhow, Tim Moore sets out to cross Trumpland USA in an original Model T Ford. Armed only with a fan belt made of cotton, wooden wheels and a trunkload of ‘wise-ass Limey liberal gumption’, his route takes him exclusively through Donald-voting counties, meeting the everyday folks who voted red along the way. He meets a people defined by extraordinary generosity, willing to shift heaven and earth to keep him on the road. And yet, this is clearly a nation in conflict with itself: citizens ‘tooling up’ in reaction to ever-increasing security fears; a healthcare system creaking to support sugar-loaded soda lovers; a disintegrating rust belt all but forgotten by the warring media and political classes. With his trademark blend of slapstick humour, affable insight and butt-clenching peril, Tim Moore invites us on an unforgettable road trip through America. Buckle up!
Road Trip!
Author: Claudia Friddell
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
ISBN: 1684372720
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43
Book Description
Join Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs on their pioneering camping trips during the early 1900s in this energetic and entertaining nonfiction picture-book adventure. After years of inventing things that other people needed, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford realized there was something they needed—a vacation! So, the famous inventors packed up Ford's Model T and invited their good friends Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs to join them as "the Four Vagabonds" hit America's back roads to enjoy the country's natural beauty, fireside chats, and frolicking fun with friends—all while inspiring future generations to invent camping adventures of their own. “Buckle yourself in as Claudia Friddell and Jeremy Holmes take you on a fun, creative, and certainly unique road trip with America’s most famous vagabonds—Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. The colorful and spirited illustrations, the stories of the Vagabond’s bivouacking travels and campsite escapades, and the well-researched bibliography makes Road Trip! a great addition to any child’s library!” —Matt Andres, curatorial registrar, Edison and Ford Winter Estates
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
ISBN: 1684372720
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43
Book Description
Join Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs on their pioneering camping trips during the early 1900s in this energetic and entertaining nonfiction picture-book adventure. After years of inventing things that other people needed, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford realized there was something they needed—a vacation! So, the famous inventors packed up Ford's Model T and invited their good friends Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs to join them as "the Four Vagabonds" hit America's back roads to enjoy the country's natural beauty, fireside chats, and frolicking fun with friends—all while inspiring future generations to invent camping adventures of their own. “Buckle yourself in as Claudia Friddell and Jeremy Holmes take you on a fun, creative, and certainly unique road trip with America’s most famous vagabonds—Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. The colorful and spirited illustrations, the stories of the Vagabond’s bivouacking travels and campsite escapades, and the well-researched bibliography makes Road Trip! a great addition to any child’s library!” —Matt Andres, curatorial registrar, Edison and Ford Winter Estates
Motor City Barn Finds
Author: Tom Cotter
Publisher: Motorbooks International
ISBN: 0760352445
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 211
Book Description
Detroit: Motor City... and the poster child for urban blight and dysfunction. This presented challenges and opportunities for Cotter, as he trolled the historic city looking for lost automobile gems. Here he tells the story of these "barn finds" and shares anecdotes of the cars and his journey.
Publisher: Motorbooks International
ISBN: 0760352445
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 211
Book Description
Detroit: Motor City... and the poster child for urban blight and dysfunction. This presented challenges and opportunities for Cotter, as he trolled the historic city looking for lost automobile gems. Here he tells the story of these "barn finds" and shares anecdotes of the cars and his journey.
365 Sports Cars You Must Drive
Author: John Lamm
Publisher: Motorbooks
ISBN: 0760369771
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
365 Sports Cars You Must Drive puts you in the driver's seat of a century's worth of sports car legends (and a few rather less legendary), each presented with a fun and informative profile and fact-and-spec box. It's the ultimate gearhead's bucket list and poses the challenge: How many have you driven? Whoever coined the phrase "getting there is half the fun" must have owned a sports car. And the wag who suggested that "it's the journey not the destination"? Probably driving a Lotus or MG at the time. From towering icons like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Corvette to everyman sportsters from Triumph, MG, Sunbeam, and Miata to oddballs like Crosley, Sabra, and DB, sports cars inspire passion and strong opinions as few other vehicles on the road can. In one beautiful book, long-time Road & Truck magazine chief photographer John Lamm, along with other top motoring contributors, gives the reader illustrated profiles of every sports car you've ever dreamed of driving! Now, imagine if you could drive a different sports car—any sports car—every single day for a year. Which would you choose?
Publisher: Motorbooks
ISBN: 0760369771
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
365 Sports Cars You Must Drive puts you in the driver's seat of a century's worth of sports car legends (and a few rather less legendary), each presented with a fun and informative profile and fact-and-spec box. It's the ultimate gearhead's bucket list and poses the challenge: How many have you driven? Whoever coined the phrase "getting there is half the fun" must have owned a sports car. And the wag who suggested that "it's the journey not the destination"? Probably driving a Lotus or MG at the time. From towering icons like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Corvette to everyman sportsters from Triumph, MG, Sunbeam, and Miata to oddballs like Crosley, Sabra, and DB, sports cars inspire passion and strong opinions as few other vehicles on the road can. In one beautiful book, long-time Road & Truck magazine chief photographer John Lamm, along with other top motoring contributors, gives the reader illustrated profiles of every sports car you've ever dreamed of driving! Now, imagine if you could drive a different sports car—any sports car—every single day for a year. Which would you choose?
Cuba's Car Culture
Author: Tom Cotter
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1627888810
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
“A beautifully photographed documentary . . . and a history of the island’s intertwined politics and passion for cars.” —San Francisco Chronicle Silver Medal Winner, International Automotive Media Competition The story of how Cuba came to be trapped in automotive time is a fascinating one. For decades, the island country had enjoyed a healthy tourism trade and American outpost status, and by the 1950s it had the highest per capita automotive purchasing of any Latin American country. But when Cuba fell to communist rebels in 1959, so ended the inflow of new cars. The U.S. embargo forced Cuba’s car enthusiasts to develop a unique and insular culture, one marked by great ingenuity as they kept cars alive with no opportunity to acquire replacement parts; customized cars with no access to aftermarket parts; and drag raced with no drag strip. In many ways, Cuba is a time machine in which the newest car is a 1959 Chevy or perhaps one of the Soviet Ladas. Cuba’s Car Culture offers an inside look at a unique car culture, populated with cars that have been cut off from the world so long that they’ve morphed into something else in the spirit of automotive survival. Tom Cotter and Bill Warner (founder of the Amelia Island Concours) take readers on a whirlwind tour, beginning with Cuba’s pre-Castro car and racing history and moving up to today’s lost collector cars, street racing, and the challenges of keeping decades-old cars on the road. Illustrated throughout with rare historical photos as well as contemporary images, it’s a scenic ride for anyone who enjoys classic cars, whether they’re old Chevy Bel-Airs, Studebakers, or Ford Fairlanes, and a cruise around Cuba that will make you feel like a kid in a candy store.
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1627888810
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
“A beautifully photographed documentary . . . and a history of the island’s intertwined politics and passion for cars.” —San Francisco Chronicle Silver Medal Winner, International Automotive Media Competition The story of how Cuba came to be trapped in automotive time is a fascinating one. For decades, the island country had enjoyed a healthy tourism trade and American outpost status, and by the 1950s it had the highest per capita automotive purchasing of any Latin American country. But when Cuba fell to communist rebels in 1959, so ended the inflow of new cars. The U.S. embargo forced Cuba’s car enthusiasts to develop a unique and insular culture, one marked by great ingenuity as they kept cars alive with no opportunity to acquire replacement parts; customized cars with no access to aftermarket parts; and drag raced with no drag strip. In many ways, Cuba is a time machine in which the newest car is a 1959 Chevy or perhaps one of the Soviet Ladas. Cuba’s Car Culture offers an inside look at a unique car culture, populated with cars that have been cut off from the world so long that they’ve morphed into something else in the spirit of automotive survival. Tom Cotter and Bill Warner (founder of the Amelia Island Concours) take readers on a whirlwind tour, beginning with Cuba’s pre-Castro car and racing history and moving up to today’s lost collector cars, street racing, and the challenges of keeping decades-old cars on the road. Illustrated throughout with rare historical photos as well as contemporary images, it’s a scenic ride for anyone who enjoys classic cars, whether they’re old Chevy Bel-Airs, Studebakers, or Ford Fairlanes, and a cruise around Cuba that will make you feel like a kid in a candy store.
Car Crazy
Author: G. Wayne Miller
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610395522
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Before the "Big Three," even before the Model T, the race for dominance in the American car market was fierce, fast, and sometimes farcical. Car Crazy takes readers back to the passionate and reckless years of the early automobile era, from 1893, when the first US-built auto was introduced, through 1908, when General Motors was founded and Ford's Model T went on the market. The motorcar was new, paved roads few, and devotees of this exciting and unregulated technology battled with citizens who considered the car a dangerous scourge, wrought by the wealthy, that was shattering a more peaceful way of life. Among the pioneering competitors were Ransom E. Olds, founder of Olds Motor Works and creator of a new company called REO; Olds' cutthroat new CEO Frederic L. Smith; William C. "Billy" Durant of Buick Motor Company (and soon General Motors); and inventor Henry Ford. They shared a passion for innovation, both mechanical and entrepreneurial, but their maniacal pursuit of market share would also involve legal manipulation, vicious smear campaigns, and zany publicity stunts -- including a wild transcontinental car race that transfixed the public. Their war on wheels ultimately culminated in a courtroom battle that would shape the American car industry forever. Based on extensive original research, Car Crazy is a page-turning story of popular culture, business, and sport at the dawn of the twentieth century, filled with compelling, larger-than-life characters, each an American original.
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610395522
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Before the "Big Three," even before the Model T, the race for dominance in the American car market was fierce, fast, and sometimes farcical. Car Crazy takes readers back to the passionate and reckless years of the early automobile era, from 1893, when the first US-built auto was introduced, through 1908, when General Motors was founded and Ford's Model T went on the market. The motorcar was new, paved roads few, and devotees of this exciting and unregulated technology battled with citizens who considered the car a dangerous scourge, wrought by the wealthy, that was shattering a more peaceful way of life. Among the pioneering competitors were Ransom E. Olds, founder of Olds Motor Works and creator of a new company called REO; Olds' cutthroat new CEO Frederic L. Smith; William C. "Billy" Durant of Buick Motor Company (and soon General Motors); and inventor Henry Ford. They shared a passion for innovation, both mechanical and entrepreneurial, but their maniacal pursuit of market share would also involve legal manipulation, vicious smear campaigns, and zany publicity stunts -- including a wild transcontinental car race that transfixed the public. Their war on wheels ultimately culminated in a courtroom battle that would shape the American car industry forever. Based on extensive original research, Car Crazy is a page-turning story of popular culture, business, and sport at the dawn of the twentieth century, filled with compelling, larger-than-life characters, each an American original.
Hot Rod Gallery II
Author: Pat Ganahl
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 1613252811
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
In the best-selling original book, Hot Rod Gallery: A Nostalgic Look at Hot Rodding’s Golden Years: 1930-1960, author and historian Pat Ganahl opened his archives and shared 192 pages and 350 photos of "some" of the most interesting and best photos of his collection. Filled with fascinating images of some of the coolest cars and builders, long-forgotten car clubs, and great shots of the dry lakes, nostalgia fans flocked to grab a piece of hot rodding history all in one convenient package. Well, if some is good, more is better, right?" In Hot Rod Gallery II: More Great Photos and Stories from Hot Rodding's Golden Years, Ganahl dug deeper into his massive archive for even cooler and more never-before-seen photos in both color and black and white to provide another album of great hot rodding photos. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he had more great stuff in old files and folders, hidden away for decades. In this edition are even more dry lakes shots, post-war rods, lead sleds, show circuit cars, and a chapter on marvelous mills. He even dug a little deeper into the early 1960s. If you liked the first edition of Hot Rod Gallery by Pat Ganahl: A Nostalgic Look at Hot Rodding's Golden Years: 1930-1960, you may like this one even more. Ganahl guarantees that it is filled with images you have never seen, and he offers his commentary and a lifetime of expertise in this selection of fantastic images from his expansive archive. You can spend hours looking at all the details and soaking in the history in these images, and we know you’ll enjoy this book as much as you did the first.
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 1613252811
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
In the best-selling original book, Hot Rod Gallery: A Nostalgic Look at Hot Rodding’s Golden Years: 1930-1960, author and historian Pat Ganahl opened his archives and shared 192 pages and 350 photos of "some" of the most interesting and best photos of his collection. Filled with fascinating images of some of the coolest cars and builders, long-forgotten car clubs, and great shots of the dry lakes, nostalgia fans flocked to grab a piece of hot rodding history all in one convenient package. Well, if some is good, more is better, right?" In Hot Rod Gallery II: More Great Photos and Stories from Hot Rodding's Golden Years, Ganahl dug deeper into his massive archive for even cooler and more never-before-seen photos in both color and black and white to provide another album of great hot rodding photos. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he had more great stuff in old files and folders, hidden away for decades. In this edition are even more dry lakes shots, post-war rods, lead sleds, show circuit cars, and a chapter on marvelous mills. He even dug a little deeper into the early 1960s. If you liked the first edition of Hot Rod Gallery by Pat Ganahl: A Nostalgic Look at Hot Rodding's Golden Years: 1930-1960, you may like this one even more. Ganahl guarantees that it is filled with images you have never seen, and he offers his commentary and a lifetime of expertise in this selection of fantastic images from his expansive archive. You can spend hours looking at all the details and soaking in the history in these images, and we know you’ll enjoy this book as much as you did the first.
The Vagabonds
Author: Jeff Guinn
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501159313
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
A “fascinating slice of rarely considered American history” (Booklist)—the story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison—whose annual summer sojourns introduced the road trip to our culture and made the automobile an essential part of modern life. In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on. Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, this elite fraternity also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America’s roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Cars were unreliable and the roads were even worse. But newspaper coverage of these trips was extensive, and as cars and roads improved, the summer trip by automobile soon became a desired element of American life. The Vagabonds is “a portrait of America’s burgeoning love affair with the automobile” (NPR) but it also sheds light on the important relationship between the older Edison and the younger Ford, who once worked for the famous inventor. The road trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford’s reputation, even as Edison’s diminished. The automobile would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life and Guinn brings this seminal moment in history to vivid life.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501159313
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
A “fascinating slice of rarely considered American history” (Booklist)—the story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison—whose annual summer sojourns introduced the road trip to our culture and made the automobile an essential part of modern life. In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on. Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, this elite fraternity also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America’s roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Cars were unreliable and the roads were even worse. But newspaper coverage of these trips was extensive, and as cars and roads improved, the summer trip by automobile soon became a desired element of American life. The Vagabonds is “a portrait of America’s burgeoning love affair with the automobile” (NPR) but it also sheds light on the important relationship between the older Edison and the younger Ford, who once worked for the famous inventor. The road trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford’s reputation, even as Edison’s diminished. The automobile would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life and Guinn brings this seminal moment in history to vivid life.
Tractor Wars
Author: Neil Dahlstrom
Publisher: BenBella Books
ISBN: 1637740085
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." —Wall Street Journal Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars,” the twenty-year period that introduced power farming—the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years. Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming. By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation’s farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That’s why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man’s landing on the moon or the advent of the internet—after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told. A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider’s view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure. With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture—a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.
Publisher: BenBella Books
ISBN: 1637740085
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." —Wall Street Journal Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars,” the twenty-year period that introduced power farming—the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years. Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming. By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation’s farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That’s why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man’s landing on the moon or the advent of the internet—after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told. A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider’s view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure. With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture—a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.