The Arsenal of Democracy : FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War Hardcover - 2014
by A. J. Baime
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
The story of the dramatic transformation of Detroit from "motortown" to the "arsenal of democracy," featuring Edsel Ford, who rebelled against his pacifist father, Henry Ford, to build the industrial miracle Willow Run, a manufacturing complex capable of producing B-24 Liberator bombers at a rate of one per hour—a crucial component in winning the war.
Description
Details
- Title The Arsenal of Democracy : FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War
- Author A. J. Baime
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition Used - Good
- Pages 384
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, U.S.A.
- Date 2014
- Illustrated Yes
- Bookseller's Inventory # G0547719280I3N00
- ISBN 9780547719283 / 0547719280
- Weight 1.35 lbs (0.61 kg)
- Dimensions 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.4 in (23.11 x 16.26 x 3.56 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Ford, Henry, Industrial mobilization - United States -
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2013045019
- Dewey Decimal Code 940.531
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Summary
The Arsenal of Democracy tells the incredible story of how Detroit answered the call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 50,000 airplanes, made an outrageous claim: Ford Motor Company would erect a plant that could yield a “bomber an hour.” Critics scoffed: Ford didn’t make planes; they made simple, affordable cars. But bucking his father’s resistance, Edsel charged ahead. Ford would apply assembly-line production to the American military’s largest, fastest, most destructive bomber; they would build a plant vast in size and ambition on a plot of farmland and call it Willow Run; they would bring in tens of thousands of workers from across the country, transforming Detroit, almost overnight, from Motor City to the “great arsenal of democracy.” And eventually they would help the Allies win the war.
Drawing on exhaustive research from the Ford Archives, the National Archives, and the FDR Library, A. J. Baime has crafted an enthralling, character-driven narrative of American innovation that has never been fully told, leaving readers with a vivid new portrait of America—and Detroit—during the war.
