Clara: Mrs. Henry Ford

by Ford R. Bryan

"Pick a good model and stay with it," Henry Ford once said. No, he was not talking about cars; he was talking about marriage. Was Clara Bryant Ford a "good model"? Her husband of fifty-nine years seems to have thought so. He called her "The Believer," and indeed Clara's unwavering support of Henry's pursuits and her patient tolerance of the quirks and obsessions that accompanied her husband's genius made it possible for him to change the world. In telling the story of Clara Ford, author Ford Bryan also charts the course of the growing automobile industry and the life of the enigmatic man at its helm. But the book's heart is Clara herself―daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother; cook, gardener, and dancer; modest philanthropist and quiet role model. Clara is newly revealed in accounts and documents gleaned from personal papers, oral histories, and archival material never made public until now. These include receipts and recipes, diaries and genealogies, and 175 photographs.

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ford Richardson Bryan was a member of the Ford family of Dearborn, who provided authentic historical information about the Ford family based almost entirely on the Ford Archives of Henry Ford Museum and associated Greenfield Village.

Reviews

[George Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book, it has some significant issues. The chapters dealing with the inter-war period have some inaccuracies, and the timelines would be hard to follow if you had not read other books on Henry Ford and the Ford Motor company. The chapters on the early years before the Fords moved to Edison Ave., the coverage of the Ford's summer homes, and the the information on Henry's and Clara's relatives and their roles in the Ford Motor Company was informative. The chapters on the end of Henry's and Clara's life were also well done. The book contains too much ink on Clara's parties and the plants in her garden for my point of view. The author should have either deleted coverage of Ford Motor history, or fleshed it out considerably. Recommend for those who have knowledge of Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company history.