The Fords: An American Epic By Peter Collier & David Horowitz
The Fords: An American Epic (First UK Edition Hardcover Copy)
The Monumental, Three-Generation Chronicle of America's Greatest Industrial Dynasty
The Monumental, Three-Generation Chronicle of America's Greatest Industrial Dynasty
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: The Fords: An American Epic
- Authors: Peter Collier & David Horowitz
- Publisher: Collins, London
- Publication Date: 1988
- ISBN-10: 0002174405
- ISBN-13: 9780002174404
- Edition Details: First UK Edition, First Printing. Standard hardcover release with original unclipped dust jacket.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium cloth boards with crisp silver/gold gilt-stamped lettering across the spine, complete with structurally sound endpapers.
- Physical Format: Thick octavo (8vo), 496 pages. Enhanced with detailed family trees tracing the Ford lineage, historic manufacturing timelines, and central sections featuring rare black-and-white archival photographic plates.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Near Fine (NF) / Mint
- Exterior / Cloth Boards: The cloth casing remains in pristine, near-flawless condition. The structural lines sit perfectly square, the boards are completely flat, and the corners are razor-sharp. The original spine is crisp, rigid, and completely undamaged, showing no shelf-wear, bumping, or reading lean along the edges.
- Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and immaculate. The internal pages, family trees, and photographic inserts are bright white, completely crisp, and untouched. Entirely free of standard user highlighting, ink underlining, dealer pencil marks, or dog-ears.
- Provenance: An exemplary archival-grade volume showing no signs of institutional library stamps, previous owner nameplates, or remainder marks.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Condition Details: The original, striking illustrated dust jacket retains high-gloss color contrast. It displays only very limited, microscopic signs of handling and light storage friction along the outer extremities. Completely free of fading, structural tears, or open chips, it is beautifully preserved and protected in a clear, archival Cellophane cover.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1988, The Fords: An American Epic stands as a monumental achievement in corporate and biographical history. Bestselling authors Peter Collier and David Horowitz masterfully chronicle three generations of the Ford family, exposing the intense, dramatic conflict between fathers and sons that played out against the backdrop of America's greatest industrial empire.
The narrative begins with Henry Ford I, the mechanical wizard, tinkerer, and mad genius who drove the automobile into the heart of global civilization. Yet, as the years passed, he transformed into an embittered, paranoid crank whose possessive grip on the Ford Motor Company ultimately destroyed his forward-thinking son, Edsel. The burden fell upon Edsel's eldest son, Henry II ("Hank the Deuce"), to avenge his father, wrestle control from corporate thugs, and rescue the failing empire. From the scandalous details of Henry I's secret illicit affair to the high-stakes boardroom feuds with legendary automotive executive Lee Iacocca, this book delivers an engrossing, definitive look at a vital chapter of global industrial history.
Author Profile: Peter Collier & David Horowitz
- Peter Collier (1939–2019) was a distinguished American author, publisher, and biographer. He was the founding editor of Ramparts magazine and went on to pen numerous bestselling multi-generational family biographies.
- David Horowitz is an acclaimed American writer, conservative political activist, and author. Together with Collier, he co-founded the Center for the Study of Popular Culture.
The duo's legendary series of collaborative dynastic biographies—including The Rockefellers, The Kennedys, The Roosevelts, and The Fords—is widely praised by historians and literary critics alike for its unprecedented depth of primary research, gripping narrative speed, and peerless ability to balance corporate economics with raw psychological profiling.
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