Autos 0-60 I Invented The Modern Age The Rise of Henry Ford

An interview with Richard Snow, author of I Invented the Modern Age, The Rise of Henry Ford. Every century or so, our republic has been redesigned by a new technology that changes the way we think: 170 years ago it was the railroad, for us it's the microprocessor, and in between them came Henry Ford's Model T. Ford was born the year of Gettysburg and died two years after the atomic bombs fell, personifying the tremendous technological changes in that span. Arriving in a steam-powered world, Ford saw the advantages of internal combustion and through effort and imagination transformed his nation and became the most famous and richest man in America. In ten years the cost and time it took to build a car plummeted so that his own workers could easily afford one, thus creating the cycle of consumerism and mass production that we still experience to this day. Scribner is pleased to announce the publication of I INVENTED THE MODERN AGE: THE RISE OF HENRY FORD (May 14, 2013). From the acclaimed popular historian Richard Snow comes a fresh, meticulous, and entertaining account of Henry Ford, the Model-T, and the remaking of American industry in the early 20th century. The car altered our nation in a decade, and made Ford a national hero— but that's not the end of the story. Ford was driven by a sense of messianic philanthropy, but once he'd achieved his goal he felt fettered by his very success. He soured, becoming a cold, closed man nurturing a dogged and vehement anti-Semitism. Thus, this singular machine chimed so closely with his spirit that when he shut down its production, his creative life was essentially at an end. In Snow's capable hands, Ford is a tragic figure we watch rise and fall.Filled with scene and incident, character and dialogue, Snow's book presents us with the unknown, industrious, and altogether resourceful young man rising in the years when people were vying to build the machine that would define the dawning age in America. In many ways his story is well known, but Snow sheds new light onto this fascinating man by viewing him through his greatest creation— the Model T.

Added 13 May 2026