This was a biography of not just Henry Ford, but of the Ford dynasty till the late 1980s. The book starts off from Henry Ford I's childhood and finishes with the fall of Lee Iacocca, the former president of the Ford Motor Company, and there are fascinating stories between these two incidents; how the legendary Model T came into being, the spectacular achievements of the Fords like the Rouge and the Renaissance Center etc.
However, the most interesting stories were those of personalities and conflicts between them. The book shows how Henry Ford I's intention of making life better for the people change little by little over the years to focused on achieving his personal interests, not necessarily monetary wise, but over things like anti-semitism(the book talked about how Henry's anti-semitic propaganda could have moulded Hitler) and making himself famous. He was a genius in some ways(obviously shown in his creation of the moving production line) but a fool in many ways(his obstinacy over the Model T, the Peace Ship etc.).
The life of Edsel Ford, Henry Ford I's son, was pretty much overshadowed by Henry's dominance over him. The stories of Henry Ford II, Edsel's son, are much more interesting; how he revives the Ford Motor Company and releases the company into the public, how he marries 3 wives, how he gets rid of Lee Iacocca simply because "he doesn't like him" etc. Henry Ford II also had something of a dual personality like his grandfather; he treated the waiters and maids like Dukes and Duchesses while he screamed obscenities when he was drunk.
One aspect of the book which interested me especially was how a single person could change the fate of something so big as the Ford Motor company; Henry Ford I and his grandson, Ernest Breech and Lee Iacocca. It made me think that doing business and managing the companies wouldn't be such a bad idea after all, especially when those people got paid so well!
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