Tractor Wars

John Deere, Henry Ford, International Harvester, and the Birth of Modern Agriculture

By: Neil Dahlstrom

Narrated by: Brian Holsopple

Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars”, the 20-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 to 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 20th 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.

©2022 BenBella Books (P)2022 BenBella Books

Critic reviews

"Mr. Dahlstrom has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in US agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." (Wall Street Journal)

Good book on tractors

Good book on tractors, lots of Ford history. Not really long enough. They only get up to like the 30’s. So it is only the birth of modern tractors.

It was a changing time

In our age of industrial agriculture it is hard to imagine a time when the horse reigned supreme and the tractor was a new and highly controversial innovation. This book details the invention of the tractor, early pioneers, early failures and the eventual rise of the Fordson, the McCormick Deering 10-20 and 15-30 with their companion the Farmall and the John Deere D and GP.
The descriptions of early factories that produced one machine at a time and producers who made less than 10 machines a year seem almost unbelievable today. The internal squabbles in the various companies of whether to build a tractor and what that machine should look like are stories unfamiliar. The book ends in the late 1920s and begs a sequel. It's thought provoking, informative and I recommend it.

Not very cohesive

Jumped all over the place and was hard to follow. Wish is covered a long history and not just the formative years. A bit of a let down.

Fascinating history

It’s a fascinating story of how the tractor came about and the impact on modern farming. It also connects the need for the tractor with more and more Americans moving to the city in the early 20th century. It was a little hard to follow at times and the story felt like it got off tangent at times.

Overall, a good book, but may require more focus to listen to.

Really enjoyed this book having grown up on a farm with these tractors.

The early started slow because I did not grow up with these tractors but I still own a Ford 8N of my grandfather, it got better and better as it went on.

Great Read for Agricultural History Buffs

I wrote my senior thesis as a History major on the impact of the early tractor. Great book

Evan's Review

Good book I enjoyed the book. I recommend this book if you are interested in agriculture and History. I hope the will continue writ>ng beginning with 1930 and come forward.

tractor Wars 2 - 1920 to 2020

Simply a great book on the early history of the agricultural tractor industry in the U.S
Today I believe Deere has an overwhelming marketshare but don’t quite understand the reasons. Perhaps a second book that details the factors for their dominance from the early 20’s is needed.

Also, what are their greatest threats for the future?

Love this History!

I love the history of the Gilded Age and this falls within that scope and right through the early decades of the 1900s. Dahlstrom's gifted writing presents this agricultural and manufacturing history in a way that keeps the reader engaged. I love our farmers including my own family that used one of those early tractors during the Great Depression for heavy work while a team of horses served as a secondary power for farm work. Holsopple's narration is spot on!

Love it

Coming from small town America farming has always been a part of my life! It was a great book with awesome history. It relates to every industry and those who make the decisions that affect how the future will be come reality. Farming has made the USA what it is today and it was very interesting to hear how long it took for adoption of the tractor to come about