Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting
The People's Tycoon by Steven Watts
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

The People's Tycoon

Henry Ford and the American Century

$35.00

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator John H. Mayer

This audiobook uses AI narration.

Weโ€™re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 29 hours 24 minutes
Language English
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

How a Michigan farm boy became the richest man in America is a classic, almost mythic tale, but never before has Henry Fordโ€™s outsized genius been brought to life so vividly as it is in this engaging and superbly researched biography. The real Henry Ford was a tangle of contradictions. He set off the consumer revolution by producing a car affordable to the masses, all the while lamenting the moral toll exacted by consumerism. He believed in giving his workers a living wage, though he was entirely opposed to union labor. He had a warm and loving relationship with his wife, but sired a son with another woman. A rabid anti-Semite, he nonetheless embraced African American workers in the era of Jim Crow. Uncovering the man behind the myth, situating his achievements and their attendant controversies firmly within the context of early twentieth-century America, Watts has given us a comprehensive, illuminating, and fascinating biography of one of Americaโ€™s first mass-culture celebrities.

Steven Watts is a historian and writer who has charted the sweeping evolution of American culture in a number of highly praised books. His series of biographies of major figuresโ€”Henry Ford, Dale Carnegie, Walt Disney, Hugh Hefnerโ€”has explored the shaping of a modern value system devoted to consumerism, self-fulfillment, leisure, and personality. Two earlier books on the Early Republic era examined the shift from an older society of republican virtue to a nineteenth-century Victorian era devoted to self-control, individual character, and the self-made man.ย Watts's books have led to his involvement in a number of media projects, including several films for PBS and the History Channel, and documentary venues in Germany and Brazil. He also has appeared in a variety of programs on CBS, NBC, CNBC, NPR, Fox, Fox News, C-Span, Bloomberg News, MSNBC, BBC, and Irish National Radio. He is currently a professor of history at the University of Missouri.

John H. Mayerย is a character actor whose voice has been heard on numerous commercials, animated programs, audio books and narrations including E! Entertainmentโ€™sย Celebrity Profiles. John was a five-year member of the Groundlings comedy theater company in Los Angeles. Recent BOT recordings include Cesar Millanโ€™sย How to Raise the Perfect Dog,ย Be a Pack Leader, andย Cesarโ€™s Way;ย A Voyage Long and Strangeย by Tony Horwitz, andย American Lighteningย by Howard Blum.

Steven Watts is a historian and writer who has charted the sweeping evolution of American culture in a number of highly praised books. His series of biographies of major figuresโ€”Henry Ford, Dale Carnegie, Walt Disney, Hugh Hefnerโ€”has explored the shaping of a modern value system devoted to consumerism, self-fulfillment, leisure, and personality. Two earlier books on the Early Republic era examined the shift from an older society of republican virtue to a nineteenth-century Victorian era devoted to self-control, individual character, and the self-made man.ย Watts's books have led to his involvement in a number of media projects, including several films for PBS and the History Channel, and documentary venues in Germany and Brazil. He also has appeared in a variety of programs on CBS, NBC, CNBC, NPR, Fox, Fox News, C-Span, Bloomberg News, MSNBC, BBC, and Irish National Radio. He is currently a professor of history at the University of Missouri.

John H. Mayerย is a character actor whose voice has been heard on numerous commercials, animated programs, audio books and narrations including E! Entertainmentโ€™sย Celebrity Profiles. John was a five-year member of the Groundlings comedy theater company in Los Angeles. Recent BOT recordings include Cesar Millanโ€™sย How to Raise the Perfect Dog,ย Be a Pack Leader, andย Cesarโ€™s Way;ย A Voyage Long and Strangeย by Tony Horwitz, andย American Lighteningย by Howard Blum.

Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

Reviews

“The implicit claim of Watts’s admirable book is almost inarguable–that it’s impossible to understand 20th-century America without knowing the story of Henry Ford.” –The New York Times“Ford has had many biographers. . . . None, however, comes close to Steven Watts. . . . He brilliantly reveals the nature of Ford’s genius.” –Chicago Tribune“Steven Watts attempts the most integrated understanding to date of Ford’s enormous influence and varied appeal. . . . The fascinating result may change the way Henry Ford is remembered.” –San Francisco Chronicle Expand reviews
Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting