I Invented the Modern Age

The Rise of Henry Ford and the Most Important Car Ever Made

By: Richard Snow

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Every century or so, our republic has been remade by a new technology: 170 years ago the railroad changed Americans' conception of space and time; in our era, the microprocessor revolutionized how humans communicate. But in the early 20th century the agent of creative destruction was the gasoline engine, as put to work by an unknown and relentlessly industrious young man named Henry Ford.

Born the same year as the battle of Gettysburg, Ford died two years after the atomic bombs fell, and his life personified the tremendous technological changes achieved in that span. Growing up as a Michigan farm boy with a bone-deep loathing of farming, Ford intuitively saw the advantages of internal combustion. Resourceful and fearless, he built his first gasoline engine out of scavenged industrial scraps. It was the size of a sewing machine. From there, scene by scene, Richard Snow vividly shows Ford using his innate mechanical abilities, hard work, and radical imagination as he transformed American industry.

In many ways, of course, Ford's story is well known; in many more ways, it is not. Richard Snow masterfully weaves together a fascinating narrative of Ford's rise to fame through his greatest invention, the Model T. When Ford first unveiled this car, it took 12 and a half hours to build one. A little more than a decade later, it took exactly one minute. In making his car so quickly and so cheaply that his own workers could easily afford it, Ford created the cycle of consumerism that we still inhabit. Our country changed in a mere decade, and Ford became a national hero. But then he soured, and the benevolent side of his character went into an ever-deepening eclipse, even as the America he had remade evolved beyond all imagining into a global power capable of producing on a vast scale not only cars, but airplanes, ships, machinery, and an infinity of household devices.

A highly pleasurable listen, filled with scenes and incidents from Ford's life, particularly during the intense phase of his secretive competition with other early car manufacturers, I Invented the Modern Age shows Richard Snow at the height of his powers as a popular historian and reclaims from history Henry Ford, the remarkable man who, indeed, invented the modern world as we know it.

©2013 Richard Snow (P)2013 Tantor

great listen

Mr Ford was an interesting , man and this book is a great introduction to his accomplishments

great

Great book
iI love h9w it went into detail of Henry for life from childhood till his death

Excellent except for the gaping hole in the story.

How do you write a Ford biography, subtitle it "I invented the modern world," and never mention The Depression, UAW or the River Rouge Massacre? The narration is excellent. The story of how Ford built the model T and thereby transformed America is fascinating. But if the author could find pages to cover Ford's pacifism, quixotic attempt to end WW I, antisemitism and devolution into a jealous crank he could have devoted a chapter to inform us about Ford's role in some of the most consequential events in America's pre WW II history. He does not and an otherwise five star book gets only two.

A great American turned sour

This book is beautifully written and well narrated. It will appeal to Ford fans and students of human nature alike. Halfway through the book I was ready to buy a Ford. By the end, not so much.

Henry Ford turned Awful

The book was written very well. I was impressed with Henry Ford, then unimpressed at his later years. What a terrible man in the end. Author and voice actor did a fantastic job.

Exceptional book

I could not stop listening to this. Goes to show you that you can do anything if you desire it.

An automotive must read!

From the beginning to the end you're engulfed in to the real life stories and experiences of a complex genius of sorts, being Henry Ford. You come away after listening not quite knowing what to think about Ford exactly, but having a great insight on why he did certain things right and other things completely wrong. A great read for the automotive enthusiast!

Great story.

Great story. I read it back to back with a biography of contemporaries Wilbert and Orville Wright. It was fascinating to compare what they accomplished. I was l left hanging though about how Ford dealt with the unions.

A Complicated Man

I have never read anything about Henry Ford until this book except when mention in a biography of another person such as John D. Rockefeller and his business dealings with Ford. Richard Snow covers Ford’s life from childhood to death but mostly concentrates on the area of his developing his engine and first cars. I found it interesting that Ford was in some ways was brilliant in his ability to see the end results of his car design and able to devote all his energy and time to develop it and then in his ability to deal with people he failed miserably. He failed at building two car companies before his success with the Ford Motor Company. He was the first to develop the assembly line or mass production and World War Two triggered more companies to quickly follow his methods of mass production. He attracted too him men of great skill’s and ability but then he pitted them against each other and he would fire the looser. He hired more black Americans than any other auto company but as he aged he revealed he was anti-Semitic. He distrusted bankers, Wall Street men and other financial people to the point he never invested in Wall Street which saved him in 1929. He hated investors and he maneuvered his company when it was successful to get rid of his primary investors and became the largest stock holder of the company. He hated to have anyone tell him what to do. According to Snow after he got control of Ford he appointed his son Edsel as company president but he never let go of the control of the company. As I read the book I got the feeling that Ford was his own worst enemy. All these contradiction and Snow’s excellent writing ability reveals an interesting story. It is obvious that Snow did a great deal of research to write the book. Sean Runnett did a great job narrating the book.

Outstanding biography of a contradictory character

Visionary, super mechanical engineer and someone of whom is was said "he could not manage a country grocery store" Richard Snow captures the good, the bad and the inexplicable parts of Ford's character. Anyone who thinks that Ford and his company should be a model of American business after reading this book is either a madman or an incurable romantic. Snow captures both of these qualities that Ford also possessed while helping the reader understand just how much the Henry's child (more his child than the unfortunate Edsel) the Model T changed the world.