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Tractor Wars: John Deere, Henry Ford, International Harvester, and the Birth of Modern Agriculture

AUTHOR Dahlstrom, Neil; Dahlstrom, Neil
PUBLISHER Matt Holt (01/11/2022)
PRODUCT TYPE Hardcover (Hardcover)

Description
"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." --Wall Street Journal

Discover the untold story of the "tractor wars," the twenty-year period that introduced power farming--the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years.

Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming.

By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation's farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That's why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man's landing on the moon or the advent of the internet--after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told.

A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider's view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure.

With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture--a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.

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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781953295743
ISBN-10: 1953295746
Binding: Hardback or Cased Book (Sewn)
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 288
Carton Quantity: 30
Product Dimensions: 6.30 x 1.30 x 9.10 inches
Weight: 1.10 pound(s)
Feature Codes: Bibliography, Index, Price on Product, Illustrated
Country of Origin: US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Technology & Engineering | History
Technology & Engineering | Agriculture - General
Technology & Engineering | Corporate & Business History - General
Dewey Decimal: 338.762
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021034770
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." --Wall Street Journal

Discover the untold story of the "tractor wars," the twenty-year period that introduced power farming--the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years.

Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming.

By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation's farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That's why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man's landing on the moon or the advent of the internet--after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told.

A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider's view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure.

With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture--a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.

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Hardcover