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

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Format: 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. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Matt Holt (January 11, 2022)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1953295746


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 43


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.06 x 9.31 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #84,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #33 in History of Engineering & Technology #50 in History of Technology #200 in Company Business Profiles (Books)


#33 in History of Engineering & Technology:


#50 in History of Technology:


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Friday, Jun 28

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Top Amazon Reviews


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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024 by Sophie

  • Love this History!
I love the history of the Gilded Age and this falls within that scope and right through the early decades of the 1900s. Dahlstrom's gifted writing presents this agricultural and manufacturing history in a way that keeps the reader engaged. I love our farmers including my own family that used one of those early tractors during the Great Depression for heavy work while a team of horses served as a secondary power for farm work. The attached photo show my grandfather (second from right) working on a threshing crew in the early 1920s where he first embraced machine vs. horse. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2022 by Darren Sapp Darren Sapp

  • Ford vs Harvester and John Deere in the rise of the farm tractor
There’s something about tractors that draws a boy’s attention. I learned to drive in the 1960s on a 1948 Farmall Cub on my grandfather’s land in Vermont, and at a recent visit to a farm stand, I was delighted to find an almost identical, so it’s not surprising that Tractor Wars caught my eye. (Note: the photo here is me on a Farmall Cub, the tractor I learned to drive on some 50 years ago.) In Tractor Wars, Neil Dahlstrom gives us an inside look at the birth of the farm tractor starting in the late 1800s and culminating with Ford’s transition to overseas manufacturing in Ireland at the end of the 1920s. Drawing heavily on biographies, board room records, and newspaper clippings, the book’s focus is on corporate strategies, alliances, and competitions. Readers may be surprised to discover how late to the game John Deere was, but not especially surprised that when Henry Ford entered the fray with his Fordson tractor, his techniques of mass production and ruthless pricing gave him immediate dominance in the field(s). While the focus is on the competition, largely between Harvester (which became International Harvester), Deere, and Ford, what I found most interesting was how the story of the tractor meshed with other events. The rise of an industrialized economy and the outbreak of war in Europe meant the beginning of the exodus from the farm, and the tractor was a large part of the mechanization of agriculture that allowed for much larger yields and reduced labor. Henry Ford, who looms large in this tale, grew up on a farm but had no love for farming and was frustrated by the inefficiencies he saw in farm practice. Not only did he want to make farming a modern business, but he wanted to free the agricultural workforce to work in factories. At the turn of the century, horse and mule were the rule in farming, but over the next two decades, the adoption of power machinery lead to bigger farms and paved the way to modern agribusiness. Ford, always the champion of the average buyer produced a smaller tractor than Harvestor, or eventually, Deere. Aimed at the small farm and priced to be affordable to anyone his Fordson tractor would dominate sales for over a decade. Neil Dahlstrom puts human faces on the drama in a very readable way. I would have liked more about the technical evolution of the machines, but if it’s not the main thrust it’s not neglected. The text is about the companies and the men that ran them, but the story is set against the rise of the industrial age, which it shows from a unique perspective. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2022 by Ernest Lilley Ernest Lilley

  • Terrific read
I am a city boy who happens to come in 1951 Ford 8N tractor. My wife grew up with H’s. This book told me all about the history and development. Now when I got to the State Fair, I can pretend a little better that I know what I’m talking about. It’s so good that I just bought four more copies to give the real farmers in our family. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2022 by DWWantz

  • An Interesting Book on Tractor Innovation.
I enjoyed this book and I gave it a 3 out of 5 review because it needs more illustrations and diagrams of the early tractor designs. Overall, a good book but a more comprehensive version can be written that adds dozens of early designs and illustrations. There are some good aspects of Henry Ford's management styles and other individuals who created competition against Henry Ford. It's amazing to see the innovations over time that made tractors what they are today. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2022 by fenx1200

  • Tractor Wars is a very enjoyable read!
This book should not only be read by those who are interested in tractors, but also those who are interested in American history. The author does a great job of presenting the early evolution of the tractor and how the prospect of a world changing farm implement led to a massive boom of ingenuity and competition from individual engineers and large corporations. Great historical information about Ford, John Deere, International Harvester, and many others is included. I highly recommend this one! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2022 by S.Y.

  • Interesting read
Liked this book. Learned tractor history that I did not know. Would recommend it to other tractor enthusiasts.
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2023 by Farm Guy

  • Good history
I have been interested in tractors for many years and have read a lot regarding the ag equipment industry's history. So there wasn't a lot of new information for but I did learn some new things Mostly about Ford whose history isn't as well-documented as Deere and IH. I've seen other reviewers note that the book seems to end somewhat abruptly in the late 1920s. To me this supports a not-so-obvious theme that runs through this book. While there is a lot of balanced history between all three makers, I took away that the story being told here really is about Deere's advances to successfully compete against IH and Ford in the tractor market. The book ends at the point where Deere got its act together. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023 by Robber E Lee

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