The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America

by Upton Sinclair, Steve Meyer (introduction)

The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America is a novel by Upton Sinclair, published in 1937, that tells the intertwined stories of Henry Ford & a fictional Ford worker Abner Shutt.
On Bagley Street in the city of Detroit, Little Abner Shutt begins the story by explaining to his mother that "there's a feller down the street says he's goin' to make a wagon that'll run without a horse." That man of course is Henry Ford. The story follows the progress & growth of Ford Motor Company thru the perspective of a number of generations of a single family.
"The Flivver King" demonstrates the effects of Scientific Management in factories. The Ford factory began with very skilled workers. Thru a process of breaking the skilled job down into simple steps, they were able to hire lower wage, less skilled individuals to do the work. The Flivver King explains how the Ford Company used scientific management to replace skilled workers while successfully increasing production.
The 1st edition, published by the UAW states on the cover, that it was printed "in an edition of 200,000 copies for its members". The book was meant to provoke & challenge its readers.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Literature, School, Labor, American

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence." In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

Reviews

[Stephany Wilkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the daughter of a now unemployed, skilled tool and die machinist, I found this a sad but completely unsurprising read, the sadder for how unsurprising it is in 2009. This book was published in 1937 and, despite the subsequent growth of unions (which absolutely improved working and wage conditions for the average auto worker, at least for a few decades), our present situation is virtually identical to the one Sinclair describes in the Flivver King.

My dad is Abner, albeit without the unwavering adoration of and dedication to a captain of industry. Other members of my family, though, still wax nostalgic for the days of working in conditions at "Ford's" or "Old Dodge Main" that they simultaneously describe as back breaking and miserable. Sinclair describes a family tale very similar in many ways to that of one side of my family, but in the early 1900s. This led me to want to beat my head against a table and wonder why, why, why Detroit has not changed, why so many people put up with sweatshop style labor for so long and call it "a good job." Well, it's because there are a lot of Abners in Detroit, and Sinclair nails their world view, while also making Abner a sympathetic figure (as auto workers who have worked like slaves generally are, unless your heart and soul died long ago).

Sinclair's eye for detail is also heart wrenching, especially if you hail from a rust belt town: Abner's terrible spelling in his letter to Mrs. Ford is identical to my uncle's emails to me, in 2009; Abner's exhaustion and damaged physique is the same as that of three men in my family, and many more I know; and the pattern of auto workers voting Republican and against their own interests is an old one that is as oft repeated today as it was then. Sigh, sigh, sigh. I don't know when we'll ever learn, and I feel like Tom Shutt even typing this, "brainwashed by Reds" at college and part of the "brain trust" with my friends (and yes, a few family members still use those exact same words).

[Max de Freitas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The only thing he could think of was to have Congress vote huge sums to his friends and beneficiaries, the great banks and corporations which had put up his campaign funds. The theory was that this money would seep down to consumers and promote trade. But what happened was that the money stayed right in the banks where he put it; they couldn't lend it unless they could see a chance of profit, and how could a business man promise a profit when he couldn't find anybody who had any money to spend?"

The book was written in 1937 as the world struggled to recover from the Great Depression. "He" was President Herbert Hoover. The theory was "trickle-down economics". It was revived by Ronald Reagan and remains the sacred cornerstone of Republican economic policy. It has never worked. In theory, it could work in a supply-constrained economy if profits were not enough of an incentive to promote industrial production. When the economy is demand constrained, as it was during the Great Depression and the recent Great Recession, it is very destructive. It takes money from the poor who spend everything and gives it to the rich who spend very little. The net effect is to reduce overall consumer spending and further depress the economy. The perverse effect is a massive loss of national wealth that penalizes primarily the very upper classes that Republicans sought to enrich.

[Louise Hite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Quite different from the Ford dynasty book I just finished reading a few weeks ago. While the Ford book showed all the positive things that were accomplished throughout old Henry Ford's life, this little book told it from the flip side. It followed the life of the family that lived behind the Fords who lived on Bagley street when he invented his first car. The father of the group (Abner Shutt) even helped push the Henry's car underdevelopment home whenever it would stop while on a test drive. Abner ended up making a career at the Ford plant, advancing in jobs until he was fired. Book told about life before the unions, with production speed-ups and unjustified firing of workers. Talked about the violence associated with keeping the union (UAW) out of the plants. It also told about the apparent benevolence of Henry Ford, which in reality was mostly not followed through. He'd say one thing and do another, on a lot of occasions. It revealed how close Ford was to the Nazi party and that through Nazi Ford employees, funneled money to the Nazis. Very revealing little book. All is not always as it seems! I imagine the truth is a combination of all the books written about the Fords!

[Mike Zickar · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best novels about work and management that I have read.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world's oldest ongoing socialist publishing house is located just a few blocks from my home in Chicago. Charles H. Kerr is known for having published the first English version of Marx's Kapital, for keeping in print many leftist classics and for publishing many surrealist texts in English. The recent death of Franklin Rosemont, manager of Kerr with his wife Penelope, may threaten the future of this national treasure.

I'd known Franklin Rosemont since high school, encountering him at the old Solidarity Bookstore on Ashland in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. He made little impression personally, but some of the broadsides he published decorated my room and were enthusiastically circulated amongst my friends.

Moving back to Chicago after seminary in 1978, then, later, rooming with his friend James Koehnline and becoming active in the SPUSA around 1980 led to our reacquaintance as adults. Franklin was no party-member, his political affiliation was with the I.W.W., but there were a lot of people in the area who carried both cards and some comrades did volunteer work for Kerr Publishers. We, the Chicago branch of the SP, started carrying Kerr books at our literature tables. I started collecting and distributing them.

The Flivver King is certainly not Sinclair's best novel, but its topic, Hitler's favorite American, publisher of The Protocals of the Elders of Zion, Henry Ford, is certainly an important figure. What Sinclair does is tell Ford's story in juxtaposition with that of one of his workers, contrasting the America of the ruling class to that of working class during the Ford era.

[Mark Steadman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "flivver" is an old American slang term for the 'model T' the car that Henry Ford famously described as being available in any colour as long as it was black. The Flivver King gives the history of the ford motorcar empire from its inception to the end of the Herbert Hoover era. Ford pioneered the mass production (using un-skilled workers to perform narrow tasks) and took advantage of the assembly line idea (bringing the work to the worker, instead of the other way round) which greatly increased productivity and lowered costs (wages) at the ford plant. To the Chagrin of his investors Henry Ford made his fortune after taking the decision to only sell one make of car, thus lowering costs and making his "horseless wagon" available to the middle class and later even his own minimum wage workers. The novel mixes fact and fiction however and the other main character is Abner Schutt a long-suffering worker who joins the company early on and quickly gains promotion at Ford's behest. Upton Sinclair takes us through the the great depression and the first world war as Ford yearns for greater wealth and influence, writing articles for newspapers and buying up the means of production for his factory. The workers on the other hand suffer his caprice as he hirers and firers them at will, raising wages to suit his image but firing workers to offset the costs. Creative non-fiction is what it is and Upton Sinclair does a good job of delineating the two (Henry Ford story, fact, Abner Schutt, fiction). The overriding arc is that of Henry Ford's descent into neurosis and paranoia as the unions and disgruntled workers circle around him illustrated by the final (fictional) set piece.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to give this more stars, but I can't justify it. Sinclair is a massive figure in American history. His contributions to the narrative of American politics is undeniable, regardless of your opinions on his contributions. The Flivver King deserves to remain in our consciousness, the history it provides on Henry Ford's entanglement with anti-Semitism is crucial to the study of American industry.

But Sinclair is an awful novelist. The back and forth narrative of Abner Shutt and Henry Ford gets gimmicky around page 10. These sing-song, back and forth chapters detail Abner's oblivious nature as an exploited worker, followed by Ford's cognitive dissonance in all things labor.

Sinclair tries to make the novel entertaining in the end simply by ratcheting up his gimmick: the Shutt-Ford transitions take place between paragraphs rather than chapters. It's still predictable and flat, just with action movie cuts.

Two stars feels low for this necessary story, but you can get novels on labor with more finesse and less of Sinclair's essayist failings.

[Yalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinclair is a formidable author who does not shy away from taking a certain satirical approach to the realities of Henry Ford, Ford-America, and Ford's view of himself, his fellow men and the world.

The Flivver King is not only a work of fiction, but it is a window into a period of American history of industrialization and early globalization in certain respects. Thus, one must not simply read this boom as if it was a simple critical work by Sinclair, but also as a work of historical fiction.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by Upton Sinclair in 1937 as a propaganda piece for the UAW's organizing drive and boy, is it ever obvious. Still, it's a good, thought-provoking read - especially when you consider that scientific management is still utilized in manufacturing to this day.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this half-fiction, half-biographical work, we followed the parallel stories of Henry Ford (rather biographic), the founder of Ford Motor Company, and Abner Shutt, a (fictional) worker at Ford’s factory from its earliest days. Throughout the book, the rise of Ford was described, along with the Shutt’s family increase in prosperity, all achieved due to his rather blind loyalty to Ford. Shutt was not very bright, but he was loyal to his boots to Ford.

Able to gain his employment due to his direct, personal relation with Ford, Shutt inadvertently introduced Ford into assembly line method of mass producing cars. While this turn Ford into a billionaire, the ever expanding business and the profit also separated him and his workers. Gone were the days when common workers could just walk up to him and speak what is in their minds. Many eccentricities of Ford were also discussed, such as his interests in social reform, peacekeeping mission during WWI, his beliefs in Americanism and also his antisemitism.

Shutts family continued to be prosperous, until the Great Depression hit hard. Lives were turned upside down, and workers family like Shutt’s were among the hardest hit. Here, the story shifted its focus to Abner’s children, and their respective fates. One was a carbon-copy of his father, able to secure better job in Ford Factory, while the second was turning into life of criminal before joining Ford’s private intelligence service, the third daughter walked the path of common women of that time, working as a clerk for a short time before marrying a middle class worker, and the fourth son worked its way into college and became part of movement to unionize automotive workers, a motive that is the main reason of why this story was made, to promote the necessity for an organization called Union Auto Workers, although not explicitly explained.

[Jinxia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this book was okay. i read it back in freshmen year for my history class and decided to re-read it because there was a specific plot-point that reminded me of our current political landscape and what i've been seeing online, which i'm going to discuss in my spoiler portion since not everyone wants to see that haha.

i personally liked the style of the novel and the way that it follows the story of Henry Ford through the Shutt family. i think the narrative choice helped to really capture the good and bad of Ford from a perspective that allows u to connect with those who are working class.

i think the story really captures the idea of how money can change a person and proposes good questions around class struggles, antisemitism, cultural conservatism, and the ethics of capitalism.


a part of this story that i remembered from my first read was how Abner Shutt continues to be loyal to Ford throughout the story despite everything that happens to him. throughout the story, Abner continues to note how Ford is looking out for them to point where he seems to feel he has a personal connection to Ford and just knows him.

it made me think about the way people argue for the ethicality of billionares and this sort of culture where people will billionares online and the way that people see these billionares as righteous. for some, it's even to the point where they work against their own self-interests and maybe even vote against their own self-interests (which you can see with middle and lower class Americans).

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a required reading for me in college, but I forget which class… Anyway, I went back and read it again because I remembered it having a good storyline and exposing much about Henry Ford and his rise to riches. The main character is a common working man (Sinclair with the common worker theme again.) who ends up working for Henry Ford once he finally gets his design for the Model T Ford down after much tinkering in his home garage for long hours. It goes through the growth that the business undergoes as everyone wants a car and describes the change in attitude that occurs within Ford, going from a nice energetic, and poor young man to being a furious filthy rich manager who smashes desks to pieces when something goes wrong. All the while the working man is followed and keeps his job for a long time thinking Mr. Ford to be a hero for providing him work and a living, but ultimately loses his job, gets forgotten about, and tossed to the side to become a broke struggling man while Ford continues to get richer. It's another socialistic-minded book as The Jungle, but is a great read as Sinclair is a worthy author. Highly recommend.

[Yahya · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
Upton Sinclair sevdiğim yazarlardan. Bu okuduğum dördüncü kitabı ve beklentimin biraz altında kaldı. Hikaye iki farklı karakterle hareket ediyor. Bir yanda Abd'nin ilk kapitalisti sayılabilecek olan Henry Ford diğer yanda onun hikayesiyle kendi hikayesini yazmaya çalışan işçi Abner Shutt. Henry Ford'un Ford şirketinin kurmasıyla yükselen kariyeri ve refahı ile onun yanında işe girerek ona hayran ve minnettar olan bir işçi. Tabii ki bu durumda işçinin hikayesi hep Ford'a bağlı olarak yükselip düşüyor. Kurgu bunun üstüne kurulu temelde ABD rüyasının iki farklı yansıması. Biri gerçek, diğeri serap. Upton Sinclair önceki kitaplarında olduğu gibi burada da kapitalizmin korkunç yüzünü ve işçi sorunlarını bu sefer biraz biyografik bir Henry Ford romanıyla iç içe geçirmiş. Beklentimin altında kalan kısmı önceki kitaplarına kıyasla fazla biyografiye kayması ve daha yumuşak bir eleştiri yapmış olması.

[Greg Mcneilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE FLIVVER KING | Sinclair, Upton

Published in 1937 by the UAW (yup, that literally powerhouse), written by the infamous Upton Sinclair, The Flivver King is a story of Henry Ford and a fictional worker, Abner Shutt.

Flivver is an early 20th Century slang term for an inexpensive automobile, often applied to the Model T.

This “novel,” along with their trademark violence, helped the UAW turn the workforce tide against Ford and unionize 4 years later. From this perspective - and nearly only this one - is it a read of interesting historical contribution. As a Michiganian, it is always pleasant to read tomes with landmarks of local recognition.

The storytelling is utterly unimaginative and uncritically agitprop; in other words, Upton Sinclair wrote a crappy novel. If you are a Michigan nerd or have lost access to other books it’s an option; just saying.

[Sam Kiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was for my US History Class (205). I didn’t know how bad of a guy Henry Ford was, so it was interesting to learn about him. From an educational standpoint, it was great. I learned a lot about Ford, Industrialization, the Depression and a lot of social norms. Sometimes it was hard to follow because the facts were hard to understand. Although the story itself was fairly good. Overall, I think there’s a lot packed into this book, almost too much. When I’m older I’ll probably appreciate it much more.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Henry Ford in this readable historical fiction by Sinclair. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of it until my daughter told me her friend was reading it for a college class. Happy to find an old copy in our public library--possibly a first edition, published by Upton Sinclair himself.

[Tom Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all novels written with a point to be made, this one by Upton Sinclair was a tough read. It was clear from the beginning that Mr. Ford was going to be the villain. Those expectations were not disappointed.
What made it a difficult read was Mr. Sinclair's writing style, which was more of the 19th Century than the 20th. It was the literary equivalent of a spoonful of caster oil. No bueno.

[Nathan Fritchley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a minute since I hopped on GoodReads (mainly because I haven't read much lol), but I thought I'd give a this a lil review or whateva. I had to read this for school, and I was left pretty underwhelmed. Oh whale. Anyways I'll see y'all in six months or however long it takes me to finish Clash of Kings (only 800 more pages to go weeeeeeeeeeeee)

[Patrick Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still thinking about my visit to Detroit over a month ago and I found this one by accident in the library. It's an interesting mix of historical fact and fiction. The back and forth narrative structure may be gimmicky to some but for a novel of this length I found it to be a nice change of pace.

[Emily Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The old man had managed to develop water-tight compartments in his head, and could be sure that "agitators" were dangerous and wicked, and at the same time could talk with two of them and not disagree with anything they said”

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially interesting to read right after I finished reading America's Assembly Line by David Nye.

[Konrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Flivver King is more relevant to America today, in 2025, than it has been at any point since its original publication, and that is really sad.

[Yaakov Bressler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced, arousing, infuriating, insightful. Upton Sinclair is a master - though this book is a little too on the nose.

[Gokce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upton Sinclair bu kitabında, Henry Ford’un hikayesini merkeze alarak A.B.D. otomobil endüstrisini anlatır. Bu romanda, Henry Ford’un otomobil üretmeye başladığı zamandan artık bir sanayi devi olduğu döneme kadarki kısım tarihi birçok olay ile birlikte çok güzel aktarılmış. Yazar tarihi gerçekler ile kurgu karakterleri bence kusursuz birleştirmiş. Otomobil endüstrisinin gelişimi ile birlikte orta sınıfın yükselmesi ve bunun ne gibi sonuçlar doğurduğuna ilişkin etkileyici sosyal yorumlar var. Orta sınıfa ait bir ailenin dönem dönem yaşadıklarını Abner Shutt ve ailesi üzerinden her detayı ile görebiliyoruz.


Endüstrileşmenin aslında toplum üzerinde nasıl derin bir etki yarattığını görüyoruz. Sanayide inanılmaz paralar kazanılırken, sıradan işçiler gittikçe zorlaşan hayat koşulları ile mücadele etmek zorunda kalıyorlar. Bütün bunların yanında, Henry Ford’un işçilerinin sendika kurabileceklerini belirtmesine rağmen, bunun olmaması için elinden geleni yaptığını okuyoruz.


İlgimi çeken noktalar, Ford’un Amerikan halkının düşüncelerini yaşayış tarzlarını etkilemek için oldukça çalışmış olması. Yahudi karşıtlığı yazılar yayınlacağı bir gazete satın alıyor hatta bu yazılar kitaplaştırılıyor. İnsanlar gerçekten Henry Ford’a o kadar bağlılar ki bir dönem, onun tarafından çok iyi manipüle ediliyorlar.

Bu şekilde, Ford aslında sadece bir sanayi devi olmakla kalmayıp çalışanların, Amerikan halkının düşüncelerini yaşayış tarzlarını etkilemek için oldukça çalışmış. Çıkardığı Yahudi karşıtı gazete yazıları, kitaplar, çalışanların hayatlarına müdahale eden prim sistemleri gibi.


Okuduğum ilk Upton Sinclair kitabıydı. Diğer kitaplarından da fırsat buldukça okuyacağım.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The period between the 1890s and the Second World War formed America as we know it today and this fascinating portrait of early Detroit (a long way from the 8 Mile city of today), takes the reader through a process of fast technological and social change.

The book features two heroes, ordinary Ford plant worker Abner Shutt and the big boss man himself, still the most influential industrialist we have seen. It's a polemical piece from the openly socialist Sinclair: Ford's anti-semitism isn't glossed over, athough at times he comes across as a simple man who was easily led, much like Shutt himself.

The vice like grip of supply and demand is also well understood although dire consequences for the working class are always up front. It's in many way a US, macro-level companion to Robert Tressell's classic, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

La manera en la que las dos historias paralelas se desarrollan es muy acertada y se nota que Sinclair estaba apasionado por este tema. Pero qué se puede hacer en este mundo industrial para evitar que la gente quede desempleada a causa de nuevos avances? Creo que parecía algo muy impactante en ese entonces porque era novedoso, pero era inevitable que se perdieran trabajos para mejorar la eficiencia. Nunca se hubiera regado tanto un invento como el carro si no fuera posible producirlos en masa. Claro, la pérdida de trabajos era inevitable, pero quizá la reacción de Ford pudiera haber sido más de ayuda con sus ex-empleados. Eso es lo que parece ser obvio, pero claro que todo es más complicado de lo que parece así que no le extiendo tanta simpatía ni tanta aversión a Ford (en el puro aspecto de la producción en masa, assembly line y pérdida de trabajos, de resto era una rata lol)

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never has the rise of industrialist De-troit seemed so elegantly retarded. Weirdest discovery: Greenfield Village was created, indirectly, as a result of Henry Ford needing another creative outlet after finding out he couldn't write op-ed pieces in his newspaper trashing the Jews anymore. I wonder if the drunk Abe Lincoln impersonator at the Eagle Tavern knows about that...

[Kelly Bolin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very interesting to read a bit about how things changed slowly for both the workers and the management. Sinclair did a good job in telling the story and presenting the conflicts within a single family. That being said it still seemed a bit abrupt in the jump from "everything's great" to "everything sucks".

[Jeff Plewniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

simply written book that explains exactly how america works and always has. you couldnt ask for a better example of why our country has so many rules and checks and balances. easier and overall better than the jungle. this wasnt even intended to be a novel, the union asked sinclair to write a brochure on the necessity of unions( when they were) and out popped this novel.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this from Seth. It tells the early history of the Ford Company and unions from the perspective of one family, which made the whole thing more compelling. It's a quick read, since it was designed to be accessible to the unionizing auto workers.