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Drive!: Henry Ford, George Selden, and the Race to Invent the Auto Age
From the acclaimed author of Birdmen comes a revelatory new history of the birth of the automobile, an illuminating and entertaining true tale of invention, competition, and the visionaries, hustlers, and swindlers who came together to transform the world.
In 1900, the Automobile Club of America sponsored the nation’s first car show in New York’s Madison Square Garden. The event was a spectacular success, attracting seventy exhibitors and nearly fifty thousand visitors. Among the spectators was an obscure would-be automaker named Henry Ford, who walked the floor speaking with designers and engineers, trying to gauge public enthusiasm for what was then a revolutionary invention. His conclusion: the automobile was going to be a fixture in American society, both in the city and on the farm—and would make some people very rich. None, he decided, more than he.
Drive! is the most complete account to date of the wild early days of the auto age. Lawrence Goldstone tells the fascinating story of how the internal combustion engine, a “theory looking for an application,” evolved into an innovation that would change history. Debunking many long-held myths along the way, Drive! shows that the creation of the automobile was not the work of one man, but very much a global effort. Long before anyone had heard of Henry Ford, men with names like Benz, Peugeot, Renault, and Daimler were building and marketing the world’s first cars.
Goldstone breathes life into an extraordinary cast of characters: the inventors and engineers who crafted engines small enough to use on a “horseless carriage”; the financiers who risked everything for their visions; the first racers—daredevils who pushed rickety, untested vehicles to their limits; and such visionary lawyers as George Selden, who fought for and won the first patent for the gasoline-powered automobile. Lurking around every corner is Henry Ford, a brilliant innovator and an even better marketer, a tireless promoter of his products—and of himself.
With a narrative as propulsive as its subject, Drive! plunges us headlong into a time unlike any in history, when near-manic innovation, competition, and consumerist zeal coalesced to change the way the world moved.
Advance praise for Drive!
“A splendid dissection of the Selden/Ford patent face-off and its place in automotive historiography, this work will be enjoyed by business, legal, transportation, social, and intellectual historians; general readers; and all libraries.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“This book contains the great names in automotive history—the Dodge brothers, Barney Oldfield, all the French (they seemed, until Ford, to lead the Americans in development of the vehicle)—and it is fascinating. . . . An engaging new take on the history of technological innovation.”—Booklist
“Business history as you have never read it before. Lawrence Goldstone tells the tale of the important but now forgotten legal fight over the patent for the automobile. With more plot twists than a murder mystery and a cast of well-known industrial titans, Drive! takes the reader down the road from the dawning age of the automobile, when Henry Ford’s dream almost turned into a nightmare.”—James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power
“Utterly compelling and filled with fascinating stories and larger-than-life characters, Drive! is a joyride. I’ll never get behind the wheel of my car again without thinking about Drive!”—Howard Blum, author of Dark Invasion and American Lightning
In 1900, the Automobile Club of America sponsored the nation’s first car show in New York’s Madison Square Garden. The event was a spectacular success, attracting seventy exhibitors and nearly fifty thousand visitors. Among the spectators was an obscure would-be automaker named Henry Ford, who walked the floor speaking with designers and engineers, trying to gauge public enthusiasm for what was then a revolutionary invention. His conclusion: the automobile was going to be a fixture in American society, both in the city and on the farm—and would make some people very rich. None, he decided, more than he.
Drive! is the most complete account to date of the wild early days of the auto age. Lawrence Goldstone tells the fascinating story of how the internal combustion engine, a “theory looking for an application,” evolved into an innovation that would change history. Debunking many long-held myths along the way, Drive! shows that the creation of the automobile was not the work of one man, but very much a global effort. Long before anyone had heard of Henry Ford, men with names like Benz, Peugeot, Renault, and Daimler were building and marketing the world’s first cars.
Goldstone breathes life into an extraordinary cast of characters: the inventors and engineers who crafted engines small enough to use on a “horseless carriage”; the financiers who risked everything for their visions; the first racers—daredevils who pushed rickety, untested vehicles to their limits; and such visionary lawyers as George Selden, who fought for and won the first patent for the gasoline-powered automobile. Lurking around every corner is Henry Ford, a brilliant innovator and an even better marketer, a tireless promoter of his products—and of himself.
With a narrative as propulsive as its subject, Drive! plunges us headlong into a time unlike any in history, when near-manic innovation, competition, and consumerist zeal coalesced to change the way the world moved.
Advance praise for Drive!
“A splendid dissection of the Selden/Ford patent face-off and its place in automotive historiography, this work will be enjoyed by business, legal, transportation, social, and intellectual historians; general readers; and all libraries.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“This book contains the great names in automotive history—the Dodge brothers, Barney Oldfield, all the French (they seemed, until Ford, to lead the Americans in development of the vehicle)—and it is fascinating. . . . An engaging new take on the history of technological innovation.”—Booklist
“Business history as you have never read it before. Lawrence Goldstone tells the tale of the important but now forgotten legal fight over the patent for the automobile. With more plot twists than a murder mystery and a cast of well-known industrial titans, Drive! takes the reader down the road from the dawning age of the automobile, when Henry Ford’s dream almost turned into a nightmare.”—James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power
“Utterly compelling and filled with fascinating stories and larger-than-life characters, Drive! is a joyride. I’ll never get behind the wheel of my car again without thinking about Drive!”—Howard Blum, author of Dark Invasion and American Lightning
372 pages, Hardcover
First published May 24, 2016
97 people are currently reading
608 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Goldstone
36 books199 followersLawrence Goldstone is the author of fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction. Six of those books were co-authored with his wife, Nancy, but they now write separately to save what is left of their dishes.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
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March 14, 2016Copy received courtesy of NetGalley
When I was small in the fifties, cars were big bulky things with rocket fins, a look so startlingly different from the occasional Model Ts and Model A’s still seen on the road that the latter seemed unimaginably ancient to me.
But those cars were barely forty years old at that time, relics of a time when the landscape, ecology, and approaches to manufacturing were utterly different. By comparison, when I look back forty years now, I only see one change: the energy crisis caused the big, smoke-spewing gas-guzzling V-8s to be replaced by smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. (Then there was the 55 mph freeway experiment.)
Anyway, gone is my elder generation whose stories about the advent of cars (and radio and TV) I grew up with, having taken in as truth the stories put about by enterprising car inventors, such as Henry Ford being the inventor of mass production, and Henry Ford, friend of the working man. My staunchly Republican father, who had loathed and distrusted big business, would only own Ford cars because of his respect for Ford, whose self-generated PR, I learned from this book, Dad had grown up hearing during the 1920s.
In an engaging, humor-veined narrative, Goldstone brings to life the men (and the few women) who were involved in the development of the idea of a horseless carriage, its invention, and its manufacture. He structures the story around George Seldon, one of the early American innovators, his patent, and the subsequent nearly-twenty-year lawsuit over the protection of that patent instigated by Henry Ford, moving backwards and forwards in time, and from Europe to North America, in order to build a picture of the invention of the automobile.
It’s apparent from this book that, like the development of artillery, boys have always been fascinated with loud, smelly, dirty, and dangerous. Those early autos were all four, their utility questionable, especially over the rutted, meandering, narrow roads connecting the world 120 years ago.
With excellent citations and a satisfying reliance on period newspapers, letters, diaries, and accounts, Goldstone builds his picture, taking time to illustrate for the modern reader how different thinking was at that time, so that we can appreciate the innovation at each step.
For example, you would assume that the development of the road we recognize now as a highway would go hand in hand with the invention of the auto, but not so. Those early cars (including race cars, which took a horrible toll not only on drivers but passengers, spectators, and innocent animals by the score) juddered over disastrous terrain; it wasn’t until a very rich mogul who liked his horseless carriages got angry that his proposed race was turned down by local authorities said, basically, fine, I’ll make my own carriageway and it will be fenced in, and limited just to cars. Some of his impetus was no doubt provided by the many tickets he was given for ignoring the local six mph speed limit, and the law stating that all horses and pedestrians had the right-of-way.
Goldstone takes the time to provide background on the inventors and those who partnered with them in various ways, including the investors, many of them rich and crooked moguls who were basically pirates without the cool ships and swashbuckling clothes. Throughout the narrative he carefully examines, and dismantles, the reinvention of himself that Henry Ford propagated from his earliest days.
It’s a colorful, immensely readable account that should please anyone with any curiosity about one of the major cultural changes of the past century of change.
When I was small in the fifties, cars were big bulky things with rocket fins, a look so startlingly different from the occasional Model Ts and Model A’s still seen on the road that the latter seemed unimaginably ancient to me.
But those cars were barely forty years old at that time, relics of a time when the landscape, ecology, and approaches to manufacturing were utterly different. By comparison, when I look back forty years now, I only see one change: the energy crisis caused the big, smoke-spewing gas-guzzling V-8s to be replaced by smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. (Then there was the 55 mph freeway experiment.)
Anyway, gone is my elder generation whose stories about the advent of cars (and radio and TV) I grew up with, having taken in as truth the stories put about by enterprising car inventors, such as Henry Ford being the inventor of mass production, and Henry Ford, friend of the working man. My staunchly Republican father, who had loathed and distrusted big business, would only own Ford cars because of his respect for Ford, whose self-generated PR, I learned from this book, Dad had grown up hearing during the 1920s.
In an engaging, humor-veined narrative, Goldstone brings to life the men (and the few women) who were involved in the development of the idea of a horseless carriage, its invention, and its manufacture. He structures the story around George Seldon, one of the early American innovators, his patent, and the subsequent nearly-twenty-year lawsuit over the protection of that patent instigated by Henry Ford, moving backwards and forwards in time, and from Europe to North America, in order to build a picture of the invention of the automobile.
It’s apparent from this book that, like the development of artillery, boys have always been fascinated with loud, smelly, dirty, and dangerous. Those early autos were all four, their utility questionable, especially over the rutted, meandering, narrow roads connecting the world 120 years ago.
With excellent citations and a satisfying reliance on period newspapers, letters, diaries, and accounts, Goldstone builds his picture, taking time to illustrate for the modern reader how different thinking was at that time, so that we can appreciate the innovation at each step.
For example, you would assume that the development of the road we recognize now as a highway would go hand in hand with the invention of the auto, but not so. Those early cars (including race cars, which took a horrible toll not only on drivers but passengers, spectators, and innocent animals by the score) juddered over disastrous terrain; it wasn’t until a very rich mogul who liked his horseless carriages got angry that his proposed race was turned down by local authorities said, basically, fine, I’ll make my own carriageway and it will be fenced in, and limited just to cars. Some of his impetus was no doubt provided by the many tickets he was given for ignoring the local six mph speed limit, and the law stating that all horses and pedestrians had the right-of-way.
Goldstone takes the time to provide background on the inventors and those who partnered with them in various ways, including the investors, many of them rich and crooked moguls who were basically pirates without the cool ships and swashbuckling clothes. Throughout the narrative he carefully examines, and dismantles, the reinvention of himself that Henry Ford propagated from his earliest days.
It’s a colorful, immensely readable account that should please anyone with any curiosity about one of the major cultural changes of the past century of change.
February 8, 2016
Well paced and edited, "Drive!" is a great example of historical non-fiction. The scope is broad enough to give you an excellent sense of the world without feeling overwhelming. I knew nothing about this issue before reading Drive! (I had no idea who Selden was or that there was ever a question about who invented the car) but the explanations and set-ups were so clear that I never felt lost or confused.
"Drive!" is full of amazing, crazy (and sometimes, amazingly crazy) anecdotes that really give the reader a sense of the excited over this new invention. Even if you aren't interested in the legal case, the jaw-dropping stories of early racing makes this an excellent read.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
"Drive!" is full of amazing, crazy (and sometimes, amazingly crazy) anecdotes that really give the reader a sense of the excited over this new invention. Even if you aren't interested in the legal case, the jaw-dropping stories of early racing makes this an excellent read.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
May 22, 2016
I would give this book a 3.5. I was a goodreads giveaway winner of this book. I found this interesting because it goes way back to all the inventors who between all of their contributions started the birth of the automobile. I liked that it wrote that inventors from different parts of the world and what they brought to making the automobile or the "horseless carriage" The title mentions George Selden and Henry Ford. George Selden was a lawyer who specialized in being a patent lawyer. He was also interested in tinkering with a gas driven motor. when he came up with one very basic bare bones one he got a patent. within a few years other inventors were also trying their hand at a gas engine. When Henry Ford started his automobile company a few years later George Selden sued Ford claiming he stole his idea for the motor. Of course he had a patent on HIS motor even though other inventors had far better ones than he did.the book will explain in better detail than I can about the law suit.
other parts of the book are fun to read as well. As soon as the new invention of cars came on the roads of course they had to be raced. with in a few years of the new automobiles coming out the races around the world did as well.
Lawrence Goldstone did a nice job giving credit to the many inventors around the world who contributed to the automobile. Lots of interesting tidbits in this book. I grew up in Michigan in a town that manufactured automobiles "remember the Oldsmobile?" I would recommend this book to those interested in reading about the birth of the automobile. and the many people over the years who contributed inspite of Selden and his patent.
other parts of the book are fun to read as well. As soon as the new invention of cars came on the roads of course they had to be raced. with in a few years of the new automobiles coming out the races around the world did as well.
Lawrence Goldstone did a nice job giving credit to the many inventors around the world who contributed to the automobile. Lots of interesting tidbits in this book. I grew up in Michigan in a town that manufactured automobiles "remember the Oldsmobile?" I would recommend this book to those interested in reading about the birth of the automobile. and the many people over the years who contributed inspite of Selden and his patent.
February 19, 2017
Given its scope, this book provides the reader with a widely comprehensive view of how both the automobile and the industry surrounding it developed and evolved from the late 19th century to the eve of the First World War. I read "DRIVE! Henry Ford, George Selden, and the Race to Invent the Auto Age" more out of curiosity and also because I hail from Michigan. So I grew up with a keen sense of how the automobile has profoundly influenced and shaped both society and the world at large.
I was also intrigued to learn about the patent battle between the backers of George Selden (who had taken out a patent in the late 1870s on the concept of an internal combustion engine later considered to be essential to the future development of the automobile) --- i.e. ALAM (or the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers) and Henry Ford. This took place between 1903 and 1911. ALAM sought to break Henry Ford the outsider, who after failing twice to establish an auto company, was now on the threshold with his latest company to achieve unrivaled success with the Model T.
The story of the lawsuit between Ford and ALAM is one that the author tells in great detail. The only difficulty I had in reading this book was in trying to fully grasp some of the technical aspects of the various engines and the related technologies. Yet, on the whole, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about how the automobile and the industry it spawned developed during its formative years - and revolutionized the world. Hence, the five (5) stars.
I was also intrigued to learn about the patent battle between the backers of George Selden (who had taken out a patent in the late 1870s on the concept of an internal combustion engine later considered to be essential to the future development of the automobile) --- i.e. ALAM (or the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers) and Henry Ford. This took place between 1903 and 1911. ALAM sought to break Henry Ford the outsider, who after failing twice to establish an auto company, was now on the threshold with his latest company to achieve unrivaled success with the Model T.
The story of the lawsuit between Ford and ALAM is one that the author tells in great detail. The only difficulty I had in reading this book was in trying to fully grasp some of the technical aspects of the various engines and the related technologies. Yet, on the whole, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about how the automobile and the industry it spawned developed during its formative years - and revolutionized the world. Hence, the five (5) stars.
May 27, 2019
Excellent book.
Well paced, lots of insights and perspective. He gives credit to Ford where it is due. Lots of good information about the evolution of the motorcar.
Well paced, lots of insights and perspective. He gives credit to Ford where it is due. Lots of good information about the evolution of the motorcar.
June 15, 2016
Drive! By Lawrence Goldstone delves into the history of the automobile and its original contributors/inventors. Goldstone explores initial versions of automobiles, motor bikes and carriages, steam powered and electric car experimentations, races across Europe and America before the highway systems were formed, and the battle over George Selden’s patent which Henry Ford so vigorously fought.
Though the book does start out with quite a bit of technicality in describing the engine variations in things like materials used in the components and differing ways of powering the pistons, the background is important for the reader to understand the issues at play in the Selden patent suit discussed further on. As the book progresses beyond the first few chapters however it becomes less technical and flows into a narrative of the various players in the invention and improvement of the automobile. Goldstone also does a good job of debunking many myths about Ford – he did not it seems invent the assembly line process but his company did fine tune it to its most efficient version – while giving as balanced and objective a discussion of the enigma that is Ford.
Ultimately Drive! does a fantastic job of breaking things down for the average layperson while also appealing to those with a special interest in cars and how they work. This would make a fantastic father’s day or birthday present for the car enthusiast and yet still appeal to the average history buff as well. Goldstone has a kinetic style of writing that keeps the plot moving despite the technical sections and is very compelling. I’ve heard the book does for the automobile what The Wright Brothers by David McCullough did for the history of the airplane, but since I have not yet read McCullough‘s book I cannot confirm this. All in all a fun and extremely informative book.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ARC from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Though the book does start out with quite a bit of technicality in describing the engine variations in things like materials used in the components and differing ways of powering the pistons, the background is important for the reader to understand the issues at play in the Selden patent suit discussed further on. As the book progresses beyond the first few chapters however it becomes less technical and flows into a narrative of the various players in the invention and improvement of the automobile. Goldstone also does a good job of debunking many myths about Ford – he did not it seems invent the assembly line process but his company did fine tune it to its most efficient version – while giving as balanced and objective a discussion of the enigma that is Ford.
Ultimately Drive! does a fantastic job of breaking things down for the average layperson while also appealing to those with a special interest in cars and how they work. This would make a fantastic father’s day or birthday present for the car enthusiast and yet still appeal to the average history buff as well. Goldstone has a kinetic style of writing that keeps the plot moving despite the technical sections and is very compelling. I’ve heard the book does for the automobile what The Wright Brothers by David McCullough did for the history of the airplane, but since I have not yet read McCullough‘s book I cannot confirm this. All in all a fun and extremely informative book.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ARC from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 5, 2016
This is a fascinating book that manages to make the race to develop the car an interesting read, adding colour to what is otherwise a fairly old, known story. Yet is it known… many people still believe that Henry Ford was the original pioneer!
The race was not clean, with intrigue, subterfuge and ungentlemanly behaviour barely uncommon. There were many attempts and it was far from plain sailing, yet development occurred and a rapid period of change ensued. So this book gives a compelling, authoritative look at the early days of the auto industry, with a U.S.-centric focus, whilst acknowledging that many developments were made from inventors all around the world. Maybe some of the names are familiar? Peugeot, Benz, Daimler and Renault…
This is not just a book for petrol-heads. It is a great history book that also gives an intriguing look into business development. It has a little something for everyone; whether specialist or generalist. Today there is a lot of talk about patent abuse (trolls), for example, yet in 1895 a patent had been filed for a gasoline-powered car and thus each car could be sold only with the blessing of the patent holder and the payment of licensing fees would be necessary, despite the patent holder never building such a vehicle and having no intentions to do so. This was upheld by a court in 1900 and it took time to get this annulled.
Some of the portraits are charming and include many surprises, such as the real impact and power Berthe Benz, wife of Karl Benz, had on his development of his motor vehicle and engine design. Berthe was far from a passive wife but an active business partner and she even helped with the development, testing and mechanical repairs and did some important real-world road testing.
A great book, in other words. This reviewer is not excited by cars in general, they are functional things, yet this book really brought this “boring” subject to light for a few evenings. A recommended read.
The race was not clean, with intrigue, subterfuge and ungentlemanly behaviour barely uncommon. There were many attempts and it was far from plain sailing, yet development occurred and a rapid period of change ensued. So this book gives a compelling, authoritative look at the early days of the auto industry, with a U.S.-centric focus, whilst acknowledging that many developments were made from inventors all around the world. Maybe some of the names are familiar? Peugeot, Benz, Daimler and Renault…
This is not just a book for petrol-heads. It is a great history book that also gives an intriguing look into business development. It has a little something for everyone; whether specialist or generalist. Today there is a lot of talk about patent abuse (trolls), for example, yet in 1895 a patent had been filed for a gasoline-powered car and thus each car could be sold only with the blessing of the patent holder and the payment of licensing fees would be necessary, despite the patent holder never building such a vehicle and having no intentions to do so. This was upheld by a court in 1900 and it took time to get this annulled.
Some of the portraits are charming and include many surprises, such as the real impact and power Berthe Benz, wife of Karl Benz, had on his development of his motor vehicle and engine design. Berthe was far from a passive wife but an active business partner and she even helped with the development, testing and mechanical repairs and did some important real-world road testing.
A great book, in other words. This reviewer is not excited by cars in general, they are functional things, yet this book really brought this “boring” subject to light for a few evenings. A recommended read.
June 24, 2019
Henry Ford is one of the names that is associated with the auto age, and it is clear that this author wishes to take Henry Ford down a few pegs when it comes to the view of Ford as being a major innovator in the automobile industry, at least to the extent that he is viewed as. This book therefore has a clear focus on revisionist history in focusing on the people that Ford copied and stole from in his search for wealth. If you like automotive history, there is a lot to enjoy here, and it must be admitted that the history of the late 19th and early 20th century was a dramatic time for vehicles and automobilism and that there are some compelling characters here. As this is a part of history that is not well known and that marks the origin of the car in culture, this book does a good job at bringing an accessible history of this formative period of the automobile industry to the attention of the general public, at least those who like reading about the history of cars and drivers and manufacturers.
This particular volume is about 350 pages long and it covers the period of a few decades in the late 1800's and early 1990's that show how it was that automobile culture was created around the world. We have the development of various replacements to the horse and buggy, ranging from electric cars whose limitations (especially outside of cities) were not helped by the monopoly that sought to profit from them, as well as various efforts at creating the roads and transportation infrastructure that would allow for the gasoline-powered vehicle to succeed. There are discussions of auto racing, endurance races, courtroom drama about pioneer patents, efforts on the part of some early manufacturers to form a cartel that would exclude independents like Ford, and Ford's own efforts at mobilizing the efforts of a diverse group of auto designers and salesmen and marketers, using their abilities for the benefit of his company, and then letting them go off for other companies to less success. If Ford comes off as an unfriendly person for his bullying ways and his generally unpleasant views in such matters as anti-Semitism, the whole period itself seems full of corrupt business practices and a lot of unpleasant figures, some of them daredevils, some of them would-be monopolists, and some of them seeming like snake-oil salesmen. Together they helped create the world of the automobile age.
This book is a salutary reminder that the more important the social change that is involved in a given place and time, the more likely that a few people are likely to gain credit and attention for it that they do not entirely deserve. Ford has gotten an outsized reputation for things that other people did, and this author feels strongly motivated to give credit where credit is due and to give Ford grudging respect but not a whole lot of praise as an innovator. The author writes with a clear awareness of the historical record, including early articles and magazines devoted to the automobile, in sources that are not only American but European and even worldwide, and altogether the picture that is pained is of an industry that some elites tried to consolidate for their own personal benefit that ended up being far more egalitarian than most people had planned or desired it to be. But in the end the developments came about gradually in the right place and the right time for the automobile to be available to many, in such a way that the industry eventually was consolidated in the hands of only a few firms, and where the logistics of making the car work to its potential were finally explored.
This particular volume is about 350 pages long and it covers the period of a few decades in the late 1800's and early 1990's that show how it was that automobile culture was created around the world. We have the development of various replacements to the horse and buggy, ranging from electric cars whose limitations (especially outside of cities) were not helped by the monopoly that sought to profit from them, as well as various efforts at creating the roads and transportation infrastructure that would allow for the gasoline-powered vehicle to succeed. There are discussions of auto racing, endurance races, courtroom drama about pioneer patents, efforts on the part of some early manufacturers to form a cartel that would exclude independents like Ford, and Ford's own efforts at mobilizing the efforts of a diverse group of auto designers and salesmen and marketers, using their abilities for the benefit of his company, and then letting them go off for other companies to less success. If Ford comes off as an unfriendly person for his bullying ways and his generally unpleasant views in such matters as anti-Semitism, the whole period itself seems full of corrupt business practices and a lot of unpleasant figures, some of them daredevils, some of them would-be monopolists, and some of them seeming like snake-oil salesmen. Together they helped create the world of the automobile age.
This book is a salutary reminder that the more important the social change that is involved in a given place and time, the more likely that a few people are likely to gain credit and attention for it that they do not entirely deserve. Ford has gotten an outsized reputation for things that other people did, and this author feels strongly motivated to give credit where credit is due and to give Ford grudging respect but not a whole lot of praise as an innovator. The author writes with a clear awareness of the historical record, including early articles and magazines devoted to the automobile, in sources that are not only American but European and even worldwide, and altogether the picture that is pained is of an industry that some elites tried to consolidate for their own personal benefit that ended up being far more egalitarian than most people had planned or desired it to be. But in the end the developments came about gradually in the right place and the right time for the automobile to be available to many, in such a way that the industry eventually was consolidated in the hands of only a few firms, and where the logistics of making the car work to its potential were finally explored.
August 19, 2020
At first, before Henry Ford, before the twentieth century, the automobile was not a sure thing. In fact, it was a downright nuisance.
** For starters, they couldn’t agree on what to call it. A “road machine?” “Automotor horse?” “Buggyaut?” “Horseless carriage?”
** They didn’t know what fuel to use. Steam? Kerosene? Coal gas? Electricity? Maybe gasoline?
** Many people were even sure how many wheels to put on it. Three? Four? Or how those wheels should be made. Wood? Cast iron? Solid rubber?
** And, more to the point, where could they possibly drive these contraptions? Outside major cities, and often in them as well, roads were unpaved, often nonexistent. And in the cities, the noise they made, and the terror they instilled in both the people and the horses that dominated the streets, kept their drivers constantly at risk of arrest for disturbing the peace.
No, manufacturing automobiles was a chancy thing for a very long time. And in Lawrence Goldstone‘s thrilling account of its evolution, Drive!, you’ll learn just how close a thing it was that the automobile came to be the dominant technology of the twentieth century. Along the way, you’ll encounter the facts about Henry Ford‘s role in the process and how far they depart from the myth.
Before Henry Ford, the automobile was not a sure thing
So, you think Henry Ford invented the automobile? Guess again. During the technology’s evolution during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, he wasn’t even in the mix. (He didn’t even start his first company until 1899.) And the Model T that made his name and secured his fortune didn’t go into production until 1908. Consider this passage Goldstone excerpts from a book entitled The Road to the Model T:
Of the 2,500 motor vehicles counted in the United States Census of Manufactures for 1899, the vast majority were steam and electric-powered carriages . . . By 1900 steamer sales had inched past electrics [and] maintained this lead through 1902. . . Not until 1903, when the Olds Motor Vehicle Company’s curved-dash Oldsmobile led the industry with 4,000 sales, did gasoline-powered carriages become dominant.
Before Henry Ford, others pioneered mass production
In fact, only once Ford launched his first genuinely successful car, the Model N in 1906, did he begin to emerge from the pack as a leader in the new industry—not the leader, but one of many. And, “despite the mythology that would settle around him only a few years later, Henry Ford at that point knew next to nothing about interchangeable parts, mass production, or even how to effectively set up a factory.” In fact, “there is no significant invention in automobile technology for which Ford could personally take credit.” And it wasn’t until 1913 that Ford began turning cars out on a moving assembly-line.
Ford’s biggest decision was to fight a lawsuit
Goldstone makes clear that Ford’s greatest strength did not lie in his limited talents as an inventor or mechanic. He was, in fact, a brilliant manager and businessman. During his early years in the industry, he outsourced the production of the critical parts of his cars because others (chiefly the Dodge brothers) were far better at manufacturing than he was. And he hired men to fill senior positions he despised but tolerated them because they were so good at their jobs. (For example, architect Albert Kahn was a Jew, yet Ford was a virulent anti-Semite.) However, one of the biggest business decisions Henry Ford ever made was to fight a lawsuit. And that lawsuit is the centerpiece of Goldstone’s story.
Before Henry Ford, Europe led the way in automobile technology
During the nineteenth century, automobile technology was far more advanced in Europe than in the United States. Men such as Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach pioneered the industry, and the French (including Armand Peugeot and Louis Renault) were quick to follow. But “George Selden was the first American attempting to build a gasoline automobile, and the first to conceive of a multicylinder motor to power it.” In 1879, he filed a patent for such a machine even though he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to build one. A gifted patent attorney himself, he kept the patent pending until 1895. He still hadn’t built an automobile, but he set out to demand royalties from those who had.
That lawsuit set the stage for the growth of the auto industry
However, “none of the scores of manufacturers of genuine automobiles offered him licensing fees, and Selden lacked the resources to demand any.” That was not the case, though, with the sharp-eyed Wall Street lawyers and investors who banded together “to form the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), which would pay modest royalties to the Selden group but would also be allowed to restrict membership and thus licenses to manufacturers of their choosing.” Ford applied for membership, indicating his willingness to pay the licensing fees. But his direct competitor, the Olds Motor Works, effectively blackballed him. ALAM then filed suit against Ford and threatened to do so against anyone who bought one of his autos. The ensuing battle in court lasted for eight years. Ford lost the original ruling in 1909 but won on appeal two years later, by which point he was already the country’s leading auto manufacturer.
** For starters, they couldn’t agree on what to call it. A “road machine?” “Automotor horse?” “Buggyaut?” “Horseless carriage?”
** They didn’t know what fuel to use. Steam? Kerosene? Coal gas? Electricity? Maybe gasoline?
** Many people were even sure how many wheels to put on it. Three? Four? Or how those wheels should be made. Wood? Cast iron? Solid rubber?
** And, more to the point, where could they possibly drive these contraptions? Outside major cities, and often in them as well, roads were unpaved, often nonexistent. And in the cities, the noise they made, and the terror they instilled in both the people and the horses that dominated the streets, kept their drivers constantly at risk of arrest for disturbing the peace.
No, manufacturing automobiles was a chancy thing for a very long time. And in Lawrence Goldstone‘s thrilling account of its evolution, Drive!, you’ll learn just how close a thing it was that the automobile came to be the dominant technology of the twentieth century. Along the way, you’ll encounter the facts about Henry Ford‘s role in the process and how far they depart from the myth.
Before Henry Ford, the automobile was not a sure thing
So, you think Henry Ford invented the automobile? Guess again. During the technology’s evolution during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, he wasn’t even in the mix. (He didn’t even start his first company until 1899.) And the Model T that made his name and secured his fortune didn’t go into production until 1908. Consider this passage Goldstone excerpts from a book entitled The Road to the Model T:
Of the 2,500 motor vehicles counted in the United States Census of Manufactures for 1899, the vast majority were steam and electric-powered carriages . . . By 1900 steamer sales had inched past electrics [and] maintained this lead through 1902. . . Not until 1903, when the Olds Motor Vehicle Company’s curved-dash Oldsmobile led the industry with 4,000 sales, did gasoline-powered carriages become dominant.
Before Henry Ford, others pioneered mass production
In fact, only once Ford launched his first genuinely successful car, the Model N in 1906, did he begin to emerge from the pack as a leader in the new industry—not the leader, but one of many. And, “despite the mythology that would settle around him only a few years later, Henry Ford at that point knew next to nothing about interchangeable parts, mass production, or even how to effectively set up a factory.” In fact, “there is no significant invention in automobile technology for which Ford could personally take credit.” And it wasn’t until 1913 that Ford began turning cars out on a moving assembly-line.
Ford’s biggest decision was to fight a lawsuit
Goldstone makes clear that Ford’s greatest strength did not lie in his limited talents as an inventor or mechanic. He was, in fact, a brilliant manager and businessman. During his early years in the industry, he outsourced the production of the critical parts of his cars because others (chiefly the Dodge brothers) were far better at manufacturing than he was. And he hired men to fill senior positions he despised but tolerated them because they were so good at their jobs. (For example, architect Albert Kahn was a Jew, yet Ford was a virulent anti-Semite.) However, one of the biggest business decisions Henry Ford ever made was to fight a lawsuit. And that lawsuit is the centerpiece of Goldstone’s story.
Before Henry Ford, Europe led the way in automobile technology
During the nineteenth century, automobile technology was far more advanced in Europe than in the United States. Men such as Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach pioneered the industry, and the French (including Armand Peugeot and Louis Renault) were quick to follow. But “George Selden was the first American attempting to build a gasoline automobile, and the first to conceive of a multicylinder motor to power it.” In 1879, he filed a patent for such a machine even though he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to build one. A gifted patent attorney himself, he kept the patent pending until 1895. He still hadn’t built an automobile, but he set out to demand royalties from those who had.
That lawsuit set the stage for the growth of the auto industry
However, “none of the scores of manufacturers of genuine automobiles offered him licensing fees, and Selden lacked the resources to demand any.” That was not the case, though, with the sharp-eyed Wall Street lawyers and investors who banded together “to form the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), which would pay modest royalties to the Selden group but would also be allowed to restrict membership and thus licenses to manufacturers of their choosing.” Ford applied for membership, indicating his willingness to pay the licensing fees. But his direct competitor, the Olds Motor Works, effectively blackballed him. ALAM then filed suit against Ford and threatened to do so against anyone who bought one of his autos. The ensuing battle in court lasted for eight years. Ford lost the original ruling in 1909 but won on appeal two years later, by which point he was already the country’s leading auto manufacturer.
January 26, 2023
EXTREMELY interesting to anyone who enjoys American history and iconic inventors!
July 13, 2019
I learned an awful lot of the early history of the auto. Very detailed and full of the pioneer stories. Gives you a new appreciation of how we got from there to here. What would Henry Ford say about robots building his cars??
June 24, 2019
Henry Ford without his myths. Extraordinary tale of how the automobile came to dominate civilization!
September 5, 2018
Pretty interesting read on the invention of the automobile and the early age of the auto industry. This work is primarily focused on Henry Ford and the development of the Ford Motor Company from it's infancy until Ford's victory against the Selden patent. The details include many interesting stories on Ford's contemporaries such as Henry Leland, the Dodge Brothers, Alexander Winton, William Durant and many others. Lawrence Goldstone also details some of the more famed races in the early history of the automobile, though not in as great a detail as he describes the early daredevil pilots in his work Birdmen.
"To build his creation, Ford contributed few if any specific design elements but instead provided a steady hand and an unshakable vision. He had hired talented people to do what he could not and had not been too proud or too headstrong to refuse to let them exploit their talents. Nor had he been too loyal to discard them when their usefulness had run its course. Ford shamelessly trawled for ideas from competitors and thought nothing of expropriating any process that would improve either the product or the means to manufacture it." - Lawrence Goldstone
"Many Americans believe that Henry Ford invented the modern automobile, or at least the assembly line and mass production. He did neither. In fact, there is no significant invention in automotive technology for which Ford could potentially take credit. Nor was he the first man to consider the egalitarian possibilities of automobile marketing. Ford's genius - like that of Steve Jobs a century later - was in his ability to improve and to adapt to the demands of the marketplace virtually any process or component with which he came in contact. To produce an automobile within the financial reach of the common man meant it had to be cheaper, lighter, and more reliable, so that was what Ford set his mind and his prodigious energies to create. Then, since the common man needs to be informed of the newest miracles of which he can avail himself, Ford, again like Jobs, also had both the ear and the flair for controlled overstatement that characterize the consummate salesman. That he projected cold sobriety in his public pronouncements made Ford's self-promoting homilies that much more credible. Henry Ford might not have been the brilliant inventor of legend, but he was a man whose skills were the perfect match for his ambition."-Lawrence Goldstone
"To build his creation, Ford contributed few if any specific design elements but instead provided a steady hand and an unshakable vision. He had hired talented people to do what he could not and had not been too proud or too headstrong to refuse to let them exploit their talents. Nor had he been too loyal to discard them when their usefulness had run its course. Ford shamelessly trawled for ideas from competitors and thought nothing of expropriating any process that would improve either the product or the means to manufacture it." - Lawrence Goldstone
"Many Americans believe that Henry Ford invented the modern automobile, or at least the assembly line and mass production. He did neither. In fact, there is no significant invention in automotive technology for which Ford could potentially take credit. Nor was he the first man to consider the egalitarian possibilities of automobile marketing. Ford's genius - like that of Steve Jobs a century later - was in his ability to improve and to adapt to the demands of the marketplace virtually any process or component with which he came in contact. To produce an automobile within the financial reach of the common man meant it had to be cheaper, lighter, and more reliable, so that was what Ford set his mind and his prodigious energies to create. Then, since the common man needs to be informed of the newest miracles of which he can avail himself, Ford, again like Jobs, also had both the ear and the flair for controlled overstatement that characterize the consummate salesman. That he projected cold sobriety in his public pronouncements made Ford's self-promoting homilies that much more credible. Henry Ford might not have been the brilliant inventor of legend, but he was a man whose skills were the perfect match for his ambition."-Lawrence Goldstone
March 23, 2016
Contrary to popular belief, Henry Ford invented neither the automobile nor the assembly line manufacturing process. The truth is, no one person invented either one of those things. What one person did invent, however, was the idea of a gasoline internal combustion engine. George Selden came up with that, and filed to patent it in 1879 (it wasn’t granted until 1895). Then he never developed the idea further, other than to collect patent royalties from those who actually built and sold gasoline engines.
By the time Henry Ford became interested in automobiles, they were being built and raced in Europe. The development of the car was a group effort, with people all over contributing bits that added up to something that ran under its own volition, and, if one was lucky, also stopped when you wanted it to. Ford was a visionary who could see what an inexpensively made automobile could be, and who had the ability to find and hire people with the skills to make his vision come to reality- even when he didn’t like the people. Ford chose to ignore the Selden patent and fight it out in court, while a large number of independent car builders joined together to form General Motors, paying the royalties and pooling their resources. They figured Ford would go under. We all know how that one worked out!
I chose this book because both my father and my father-in-law were both auto mechanics. My father was born in 1905 in Detroit, and so saw the car industry in its infancy and watched it grow. I wanted to see what he saw. It is an interesting book even though I don’t really understand the technical details. The book doesn’t go deep, but it gives a good overview. It could have used more photographs of those great old cars. The automobile changed the world- roads needed to be built that cars could handle, fueling stations needed to exist, mechanics to handle breakdowns, road laws needed to be made, people could spread out- and this book shows some of the problems encountered along the way.
By the time Henry Ford became interested in automobiles, they were being built and raced in Europe. The development of the car was a group effort, with people all over contributing bits that added up to something that ran under its own volition, and, if one was lucky, also stopped when you wanted it to. Ford was a visionary who could see what an inexpensively made automobile could be, and who had the ability to find and hire people with the skills to make his vision come to reality- even when he didn’t like the people. Ford chose to ignore the Selden patent and fight it out in court, while a large number of independent car builders joined together to form General Motors, paying the royalties and pooling their resources. They figured Ford would go under. We all know how that one worked out!
I chose this book because both my father and my father-in-law were both auto mechanics. My father was born in 1905 in Detroit, and so saw the car industry in its infancy and watched it grow. I wanted to see what he saw. It is an interesting book even though I don’t really understand the technical details. The book doesn’t go deep, but it gives a good overview. It could have used more photographs of those great old cars. The automobile changed the world- roads needed to be built that cars could handle, fueling stations needed to exist, mechanics to handle breakdowns, road laws needed to be made, people could spread out- and this book shows some of the problems encountered along the way.
December 8, 2016
"Drive!" described the history of early automobile development and how we ended up with gas rather than steam or electric cars. The book mainly looked at events from the 1880s to 1911. The author started with a quick history of steam engines then went on to describe the various people who came up with steam, gas, and electric engines for horseless carriages or carts. While Ford's name does show up a lot, it's about everyone involved in the development and promotion of automobiles, including non-American countries. Auto racing helped fuel invention and convince people that automobiles were both cool and capable. So we learn about the early road races and cross-country racing. We also learn about Good Road movement and the first highways as well as the beginnings of the auto manufacture, assembly, and selling.
The author referenced newspaper articles, trade magazines, and legal records of the time. It's pretty clear that Ford liked to claim credit for other people's ideas and efforts--what other people had done first or had done for him. The author shows that Ford had a "natural genius for business," though, and was good at finding talented people or improving on other people's ideas. Other people did develop a cheap, well-made car for the everyday person before Ford did, but he's the one that made it into a big business while others turned their focus toward making luxury cars.
If you're interested in Henry Ford (rather than the legend he created for himself) and early automobile history, I'd suggest reading this versus watching documentaries. Most of the documentaries I've watched seem based on the Ford legend rather than reality and also didn't accurately describe the Ford versus Selden patent battle.
I received this review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
The author referenced newspaper articles, trade magazines, and legal records of the time. It's pretty clear that Ford liked to claim credit for other people's ideas and efforts--what other people had done first or had done for him. The author shows that Ford had a "natural genius for business," though, and was good at finding talented people or improving on other people's ideas. Other people did develop a cheap, well-made car for the everyday person before Ford did, but he's the one that made it into a big business while others turned their focus toward making luxury cars.
If you're interested in Henry Ford (rather than the legend he created for himself) and early automobile history, I'd suggest reading this versus watching documentaries. Most of the documentaries I've watched seem based on the Ford legend rather than reality and also didn't accurately describe the Ford versus Selden patent battle.
I received this review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
October 4, 2016
This book is the story of how the automobile age evolved from its primitive beginnings, the men who made it possible- the engineers, the business visionaries and most definitely the lawyers. One particular patent lawyer-cum-innovator-cum patent squatter- George Selden- had a particularly important bearing on the story. The future of the whole industry and most definitely of the Ford Motor Company once hinged on the long, nail-biting legal battle fought over the validity/invalidity of his patent.
While the book also chronicles the beginning and evolution of the iconic brands of today- Mercedes, Benz, Renault and Daimler- the fulcrum of the story, doubtlessly, is Henry Ford. The man so very ignorantly often credited by the world- and certainly by himself in his own (ghost written?) autobiography- with pioneering the assembly manufacturing paradigm and worker welfare with his $5 a day wages. The author, with sufficient documentary evidence and testimonies of the men who worked with Ford at close quarters, unmasks Ford and shows him to be the man he actually was. Needless to say, the portrait he paints is far from complementary. His empire was forged on broken promises, cheating investors, using and dumping people as per his needs, claiming credit for much that he never achieved by himself and large dollops of luck. The book ends at the point where Ford becomes the richest man in the US riding on the success of the iconic Model T. Sadly, the world knows little of the blood and sweat put in by scores of others who were his contemporaries or came before him.
The book could have been better edited to weed out much of the technical jargon describing the mechanism of various automobiles. These would be enjoyable for an auto enthusiast but certainly not a lay reader.
While the book also chronicles the beginning and evolution of the iconic brands of today- Mercedes, Benz, Renault and Daimler- the fulcrum of the story, doubtlessly, is Henry Ford. The man so very ignorantly often credited by the world- and certainly by himself in his own (ghost written?) autobiography- with pioneering the assembly manufacturing paradigm and worker welfare with his $5 a day wages. The author, with sufficient documentary evidence and testimonies of the men who worked with Ford at close quarters, unmasks Ford and shows him to be the man he actually was. Needless to say, the portrait he paints is far from complementary. His empire was forged on broken promises, cheating investors, using and dumping people as per his needs, claiming credit for much that he never achieved by himself and large dollops of luck. The book ends at the point where Ford becomes the richest man in the US riding on the success of the iconic Model T. Sadly, the world knows little of the blood and sweat put in by scores of others who were his contemporaries or came before him.
The book could have been better edited to weed out much of the technical jargon describing the mechanism of various automobiles. These would be enjoyable for an auto enthusiast but certainly not a lay reader.
July 18, 2016
This book is well written, but I found it went off on many different tangents and could probably have tackled the main topic, George Selden and his patent for an automobile, in half the time. Goldstone goes off on many tangents about car races and different aspects of auto history, especially Ford Motor Company's history, but he does not stay true to the main story. Selden has created a patent for a basic horseless carriage as early at 1879, but he never built a car--he only had a piece of paper and I don't even know if he filed the patent right away. Later on, a consortium of high-end car builders joined forces with him and said that they had purchased the patent from him and forced the other car manufacturers to pay them a royalties--Selden was paid a percentage of these royalties. Somehow Henry Ford eluded these royalty payments because he was building less expensive cars. Ultimately, the courts ruled against the consortium and the patent and it opened up the car industry to new entrants. I thought it would be interesting if he had discussed the modern concept of patent trolls. It seems like the car companies in the consortium were sitting on a questionable patent and created a great source of revenue for themselves and this type of questionable behavior has been a problem in the IT hi-tech industries. Perhaps these issues how these car companies behaved in the late 1800's and early 1900's will come up in a book about modern patent trolls.
June 2, 2019
Goldstone writes about the development of the automobile from its incarnation in the late 19th century to the heyday of the Model T, with a focus on the Selden patent, and its impact on the car manufacturers of the time. He covers their legal and financial maneuvers as well as the technical aspects of automotive evolution that led to the dominance of Ford and GM. While he praises Henry Ford's market timing and work ethic, he asserts that many of the innovations attributed to him were originated by his underlings. I was surprised by the author's judgment of the patent trial verdict , which didn't seem to be supported by the book's narrative
August 1, 2016
A useful history I will return to again and again. Taking the 30,000-foot view, with plenty of details to give the history a personal feel. With the wide-angle overview approach, however, the story moves along without becoming bogged down in details most readers won't be looking for in such a book. Goldstone weaves the early history of automobiles into a highly readable account, creating a very straight-forward narrative arc, though historical topics are anything but. Highly recommend to those interested in the later Industrial Revolution, early 20th-century history, and of course, car nuts.
If you're looking at Lawrence Goldstone's name and thinking it looks familiar, he and his wife wrote at least three excellent memoirs about bibliophiles and the rare book trade -- that was my introduction to him as a writer.
This book was provided to me via NetGalley for review.
For more, check out http://benjaminlclark.com
If you're looking at Lawrence Goldstone's name and thinking it looks familiar, he and his wife wrote at least three excellent memoirs about bibliophiles and the rare book trade -- that was my introduction to him as a writer.
This book was provided to me via NetGalley for review.
For more, check out http://benjaminlclark.com
January 8, 2017
There are interesting points about this book. The author makes a great effort trying to tell the story of the birth of the automobile. The issue seems to be that there were so many different players that the story seems muddy. Ultimately the book is about things and not people and as such becomes difficult to read. You'll learn about various types of early engines and various types of ways of generating power whether steam, gasoline, or electric. You'll learn about many different auto races, the names of those that raced, times they finished in etc. You'll learn about patents. You will learn a bit about some characters, mostly Henry Ford whom, it appears, the author does not like. He believes he's been over credited in history for what he's done etc.
Ultimately there's plenty to learn here and as such it is a good book. But, you will learn mostly about things and little about the people who made the things.
Ultimately there's plenty to learn here and as such it is a good book. But, you will learn mostly about things and little about the people who made the things.
June 29, 2016
This is the first non-fiction, by Lawrence Goldstone, that I've read. His historical fiction, "Anatomy of Deception", and "The Astronomer" in particular, were first-rate, and very enjoyable. I don't remember, specifically, how this book came to my attention, but having grown up in Detroit, I've no small interest in the auto industry. This book tells the story of Henry Ford's fight vs a majority of competitors, in regards to the first patent for the gasoline engine. It gives an historical perspective of the industry itself, with remarkable detail. Goldstone is obviously a talented writer, but perhaps a more talented researcher. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, at least off-line, unless the subject interests me. If you have any interest in the automobile industry, and it's history, you will want to pick up this book.
January 30, 2017
Kudos to this author, able to translate arcane legal language into readable prose. Even with some suspense! As the Automobile Age began, it was the French (Peugeot and Renault) and Germans (Benz and Daimler) who held the developmental edge. Americans were slower to get going. It was only when a charismatic fellow named Henry Ford came along that the U.S. began to attain forefront. Bright, efficient managers and engineers seemed to fall into his lap. Contrary to myth, Ford did not "invent" the assembly line; he only effectively adapted it for (namely Model T) production. The legal stuff? A fellow named George Seldon in 1879 filed for a patent for a gasoline "road" engine. Then he sat on it. He never built a working automobile but instead held manufacturers hostage, collecting licensing fees. Ford wouldn't pay. Extensive court case. Guess who won. (Hint: Try to find a Seldon car.)
July 13, 2017
It's mildly deflating to realize partway through a biography of two men -- Selden, whose contributions to modern car engines is dubious, and Ford, whose role as a pioneer in designing and mass-producing cars is overblown -- that the subjects don't fully warrant the treatment. To fill the void, the author frequently focuses on other players racing to create the auto age, such as competing engineers, investors and race-car drivers. I thought this approach worked well in the first quarter of the book, much less so for the remainder. Knowing what I know now, I might have preferred a biography of David Dunbar Buick or the handy Dodge brothers. Although none of them had Ford's gift for management and promotion (an uncanny ability to sell the public on his cars and his own myth), they may have had a truer love for cars and the tools and parts that make them.
December 23, 2017
This book is a high level history of the development of the auto industry, and the impact of the Seldon patent on its development. Seldon was a patent attorney who patented a self propelled vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine in 1877; Seldon continued to update his patent until the 1890s when the auto industry began to develop, then finalized the patent. Seldon sold the patent to an electric car manufacturer, who formed a trade association that coerced early auto manufacturers for pay royalties to the patent owners. Henry Ford refused to pay royalties, was sued by the trae association, and ultimately prevailed.
This book is an excellent introduction to the history of the auto industry. It does not get into a lot of technical details, and is an easy and interesting read. Highly recommended as a first automotive history.
This book is an excellent introduction to the history of the auto industry. It does not get into a lot of technical details, and is an easy and interesting read. Highly recommended as a first automotive history.
June 3, 2016
Well researched book about the dawn of the automobile era with focus on Ford and Seldon, the latter a man who patented the internal combustion automobile we are familiar with. The book focuses on Ford's rise to power and a patent challenge between Ford, Seldon and other manufacturers. This focus detracts from the overall story - too much detail.
Ford did not invent the assembly line but he did capitalize on existing techniques plus had a good sense of what the public wanted. The author sees similarities between Ford and Steve Jobs. Considering some of the nastier views Ford held, this may not be a comparison Jobs and his fans appreciate.
Ford did not invent the assembly line but he did capitalize on existing techniques plus had a good sense of what the public wanted. The author sees similarities between Ford and Steve Jobs. Considering some of the nastier views Ford held, this may not be a comparison Jobs and his fans appreciate.
July 3, 2016
Very misleading subtitle (and cover photos), as the book is very little about George Selden. And although Henry Ford is an important character in the book, he's not really its focus either. It's really just a workmanlike, textbook-dry history of the early days of the automobile. I suspect that the publisher wanted to make it look like an otherwise prosaic book contained some real drama, but the story of the Ford-Selden "battle" doesn't have enough depth to make the book that interesting.
July 10, 2017
The main story is interesting, but unfortunately too much writing is spent describing the various races. I get it that the races were an important aspect for the popularity of the early car industry, but the very detailed description about who was driving what and how was just too much. At times it felt more like filler material then supporting the storyline. If you don't mind skipping threw a few pages it still makes for an interesting read.
July 16, 2018
One of the better books on automotive history that I have read. Mr. Goldstone does a great job of detailing the history of the manufacturing of automobiles in the US, and the personalities of the people involved. He debunks a number of legends and myths about the validity of the Selden patent, the invention of the assembly line, and much more. Although many of my hard cover books get read and then donated to charity, this one will stay in my personal library for the time being.
May 18, 2016
Detailed investigation of the very early years of the combustion engine. The author manages to make the historical record come alive, as he describes the challenges facing the early entrepreneurs. The focus of the book is quite narrow and remains on the very early years. I received my copy from NetGalley.
June 15, 2016
Really seemed to parallel his 2014 book "Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies"....years-long patent fights which may have squelched "open source" innovation, early European dominance of the industry, the history of development, etc. Really informative, very well-researched and imminently readable.
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