The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten-Year Road Trip

Author: Guinn, Jeff

Edition: 1st Printing

Number Of Pages: 320

Details:

A “f ascinating slice of rarely considered American history” (Booklist)—the story of 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. 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. The Vagabonds is “a portrait of America’s burgeoning love affair with the automobile” (NPR) but it also sheds light on 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 would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life and Guinn brings this seminal moment in history to vivid life.

Reviews:

"A fascinating slice of rarely considered American history."

― Booklist

“ The Vagabonds is Jeff Guinn at his incisive and entertaining best.  Meticulously researched and gracefully written, The Vagabonds shows us the architects of the 20th century in a new and fascinating light.  A great read.” -- Thomas Cobb, author of Crazy Heart and Darkness the Color of Snow

"Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, road-tripping buddies. . . . An entertaining story that mixes sharp portraits of their vivid personalities with details of their travels and a portrait of American society during those years." 

― Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating snapshot of some of the less-famous years of American history. . . .[And] a portrait of America's burgeoning love affair with the automobile." -- Camila Domonoske

― NPR.org

“Jeff Guinn is a gifted writer, and his smooth prose transports the reader to the early 1900s, where we travel along with two of America's most celebrated icons. Guinn's unflinching portraits of Ford and Edison reveal that while these men accomplished great things, they were also deeply flawed individuals. One of the book's biggest surprises is how many of the currents running through it still roil our politics and culture today.” -- Eric Jay Dolin, Author of Black Flags, Blue Waters

"An arresting account of America's auto-camping movement and its incipient motivators."

― Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author:

Jeff Guinn is the bestselling author of numerous books, including  Go Down Together,  The Last Gunfight,  Manson, The Road to Jonestown, and  War on the Border. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Vagabonds Prologue Paris, Michigan Mid-August 1923 Bad weather plagued much of Michigan during the late summer of 1923. Unseasonably cool temperatures combined with near-constant rain, trapping residents indoors and tamping down what had been, for the last fifteen years or so, an ever-increasing influx of tourists eager to enjoy the state’s bracing mix of sprawling woodlands, arching hills, and sparkling lakes. This was especially true in the tiny, unincorporated township of Paris, named in the 1850s for early settler John Parish. Somewhere along the line the “h” was dropped. If most of M...

EAN: 9781501159305

Release Date: 09-07-2019

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 20191st Printing

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover