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The vagabonds the story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's ten-year road trip Jeff Guinn

Catalog Data

Author:
Guinn, Jeff  Search this
Subject:
Ford, Henry 1863-1947 Travel  Search this
Physical description:
306 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates illustrations 23 cm
Type:
Biography
Biographies
History
Place:
United States
Date:
2019
20th century
Contents:
Prologue: Paris, Michigan : mid-August 1923 -- 1914 -- 1915 -- 1916 -- 1918 -- 1919 -- 1920 -- 1921 -- Interim: November 1921-June 1923 -- 1923 -- 1924 -- Jep Bisbee is famous
Summary:
"A brilliant portrait of two American giants, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, and America entering the automobile age, told through the fascinating but little-known narrative of the summer road trips taken by Edison and Ford"-- Provided by publisher
The fascinating story of two American giants--Henry Ford and Thomas Edison--whose annual summer sojourns introduced the road trip to our culture and made the automobile an essential part of modern life, even as their own relationship altered dramatically. In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on. Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, this elite fraternity also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America's roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Cars were unreliable and the roads were even worse. But newspaper coverage of these trips was extensive, and as cars and roads improved, the summer trip by automobile soon became a desired element of American life. In The Vagabonds Jeff Guinn shares the story of this pivotal moment in American history. But he also examines the important relationship between the older Edison and the younger Ford, who once worked for the famous inventor. The road trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford's reputation, even as Edison's diminished. The automobile had come of age and it would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life. Guinn brings to life this seminal moment when a new industry created a watershed cultural shift and a famous businessman became a prominent political figure. The Vagabonds is a wonderful story of two American giants and the transformation of the country
In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They continued the summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on. Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, they also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America's roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Guinn shares the story of these pivotal moments in American history, and shows how the trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford's reputation, even as Edison's diminished. -- adapted from jacket
Topic:
Automobile engineers  Search this
Businessmen  Search this
Inventors  Search this
Automobile travel--History  Search this
Vacations--History  Search this
TRANSPORTATION--General  Search this
Automobile travel  Search this
Travel  Search this
Vacations  Search this
Description and travel  Search this
Description  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_1114450