Electric City: The Lost History of Ford and Edison’s American Utopia by Thomas Hager

Electric City: The Lost History of Ford and Edison’s American Utopia Reviews

• 
  Blaine DeSantis

  What a marvelous book about a little known chapter in American history. I listened to a podcast in which the author was interviewed and was so impressed that I moved the book to the top of my reading list, and once I began the book it was hard for me to put it down!
  
  This is the story of the attempt by Henry Ford to change the destiny of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama region and to create a utopian society based on 19th century values and ethics. It was a plan where Ford would purchase government owned facilities, facilities that have been deserted after World War One, and he would finish the damming of the Tennessee river, would finish nitrate fertilizer plants that had also been halted, and would create a massive amount of electric energy that he would use to create a 75 mile development plan for this upper Alabama region. It was an ambitious endeavor, but one which the citizens were wildly in favor of because of how backward, desolate and impoverished this area was.
  
  The book is an extremely fast read, as a matter of fact the first section I read in under a day. It slows down a bit once the focus gets off of Henry Ford, and instead focuses on the main opponent to this project, Nebraska Senator George Norris who way back in the 1920s believed that natural resources in America should be controlled by a public entity and not private corporations. He believed that Ford was lowballing the purchase price, was not willing to commit to certain enhancements and for almost three years this US Senator was able to block any and all attempts by Ford to purchase the property and make these improvements.
  
  Henry Ford was an icon, and in addition he brought in his friend Thomas Edison to help promote the project's use of hydroelectric power by damming the Tennessee river. What I never realized was that Henry Ford wanted clean and green energy. He hated coal and the smoke and dirt that it produced. As a matter of fact I got the distinct impression that Ford would have preferred his automobiles to be electrified but there was not a way to feasibly do that when he developed the Model T. By this time in his life Ford was most likely the wealthiest man in the world and he had dreams of expanding his automobile dynasty as well as dreams of creating an America that was based upon his work ethics. He planned for villages that would be developed that had a 40 acre village green, a church, housing, some small businesses, all of which would be populated by people who would work at Ford’s automobile factory, or supply chain in the area. He may have been the first person who dreamt of something we now know as the suburbs, And his ideas on small family farming we're truly revolutionary. But no matter what he did he was opposed by George Norris. Norris eventually drafted a bill which would lead to the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Norris believed that the Tennessee River should be damned for the benefit of all people in the area not just to benefit Ford.
  
  This is a truly eye opening book about something I had never heard of and I was fascinated to read all that was involved in this project. A project that actually had its beginnings in the 1890s, expedited during the early years of World War One, and before the whole project could be finalized the war ended. It was at that time that Henry Ford decided he would come in and help revitalize that area by taking over the government projects and structures and use them for his utopian dream.
  
  For me this was a well written book, a fabulous read come which bogs down a bit when we get into the middle portion of the book because the focus no longer is on Ford or Edison, but rather on Norris, government hearings and what impediments could be put in the way of Henry Ford so that he did not get this land. I heartily recommend this to anyone who is interested in history, the TVA, and the question of government versus public ownership of utilities. It's not a dry read, but rather it is one that kept me from putting this book down until I finished it. A top notch effort to put it mildly!
  
• 
  Kenzie Beatty

  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this account of a fairly unknown piece of American history. I was originally drawn in by the beautiful cover. The font is eye catching, especially against the grey background, which contrasts perfectly with the lush green/bright blue of the bottom half of the cover. It captures the essence and thesis of the book accurately. The idea of a Utopia is one that is explored often in science fiction writings and not one we often relate to real life. Hager does not shy away from showing the fatal flaws of the main players in the story, particularly with Ford and some of his personal ideologies. And yes his antisemitic views are completely inexcusable; Ford also made sure his employees earned an appropriate wage and had safe working conditions. Hager does a wonderful job of fleshing out Fords qualities, both good and bad.
  
  I’ve seen some reviews saying the title is a bit misleading, with the last say 40% focusing on the Tennessee Valley Authority and less on Ford and Edison. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think there is a good setup for the last part and what happens with the TVA and how communities were planned in the 40s and 50s.
  
  If you have an interest in technology, urban planning, or even weird/random niche historical events I definitely recommend checking it out. I fall into the latter two categories and I read this book in one sitting, which rarely happens!
  
  Read as an eARC thanks for NetGalley!
• 
  Ksensei K

  I read this hot off the heels of Greg Grandin’s excellent “Fordlandia” (which concerns itself with another megalomaniac Ford project), and the fact that it stands up quite well in comparison is testament to the book’s quality.
  
  “Electric City” follows Henry Ford’s pursuit of Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee river – the eventual site of TVA activity – and his ever-growing utopian visions for the area. The book begins with the time Tennessee river valley ignited first sparks of interest and concludes describing its ultimate fate. Neither Ford, nor Edison were involved in either of those, which hints at the scope of the story. Edison wasn’t involved much at all, actually, and when he was, it was primarily for the PR value of his name. It seems, he was similarly included in the title for the effect the outsized effect his name and Ford’s produce together, both then and now.
  
  Hager moves through the narrative sequentially, and while he maintains his focus on the Muscle Shoals area, the bulk of the story concerns itself with endless politicking and PR pushes surrounding the whole thing. Descriptions of interested parties traveling to Washington, partaking in endless negotiations and generating headlines are interspersed with necessary diversions to explain technical details, biographies or larger forces at play. The book moves swiftly and is an easy read. The language is very simple, too simple for my taste in fact, but not inadequate in any way
  .
  Wrapping up the book, Hager provides brief summaries of the fate of various characters (and there was a surprising number of them drifting into and out of the project at one point or another) following their involvement with Muscle Shoals. They are a welcome touch, rounding out the story.
  
  In another concluding section of the book Hager explains his decision not to include footnotes, preferring to confine them to academic writing. I wish he made a different choice, but the book provides and informative list of sources nonetheless.
  
  In the end, this is a nice book for the lay public to learn more about the Muscle Shoals affair and history of TVA. Some grounding in Ford’s biography or history of the time in general couldn’t hurt, but the book is a fine read without them. Recommended.
• 
  Jeff

  Those That Do Not Know History... The time period is (basically) a century ago. Most of the action is taking place within about 3 years either side of 1920. And you have a nationally popular and very rich business tycoon running in an election that ends with allegations of fraud and demands for recounts. Sound familiar? This is only *part* of the story of a piece of American history that despite having a tangential connection to (my step-grandfather - the only second grandfather I ever knew - was from the Muscle Shoals region and was born there during the period discussed in this text), I had never heard about before seeing this book. I've known of the TVA, I've even considering applying for jobs there in my professional career. But this story of how they began - really nearly a decade *before* the Great Depression and FDR's New Deal - is quite fascinating on so many levels. Hager does a tremendous job of showing the breadth of what was happening and why as it relates to his central thesis, and people would do well to learn the lessons of this particular episode of American history. While the Bibliography was a bit lacking (at roughly 9% of this text vs a more common 20-30% or so), the author explains that much of his research was from original records and correspondences not captured in any previous volume, so that makes a fair amount of sense. On the whole, this seems well done and well balanced, and is very much recommended.
• 
  Kathy

  This book is well researched and some parts read like historical fiction. Very interesting and informative.
• 
  Michiel Berger

  Sommige geschiedenissen zijn eigenlijk net te mager voor een boek. Deze ook. De betrokkenheid van Ford en Edison in dit verhaal is minder dan ik had verwacht, en daardoor wordt het grotendeels een vertelling over het tot stand komen van een reeks stuwdammen in de Tennessee Valley. En klein beetje bio over Ford, wat wel interessant was, dus toch nog wat sterren.
• 
  Alan

  I live in LA (Lower Alabama) and was browsing the new books at the public library and was attracted to the cover. Thumbing through, I realized much of it took place in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I checked it out and began reading. Hager is an excellent writer. He excels at making history enjoyably readable. It's a story about Ford, a little bit of Edison, George Norris, and the TVA but the writing about the development and construction was so compelling. It kept me turning the pages and learning new things on every flip. Hager has done for history what he has mastered in his STEM books. I went after more details and turned to the Source Notes at the back of the book. He says it himself; “I translate that material (footnotes, scholarly writing) into language that will engage readers.” This, as any writer knows, is no small feat. Thank you, Hager. I will be reading more of your books. Based on Goodreads, it looks like 'Alchemy of Air' will be next.
• 
  James

  As a professor that studies the history of education, I end my class by asking students to pick an area of education and write a "hidden" history - what is missing that they know is there but does not get much attention. This book, while not based on the history of education, is proof that much of our "hidden history" is compelling and will leave us wondering what could have been.
  
  While examining deeply the politics, social expectations, and so forth of the movement, the book tells of how Henry Ford planned a hydro-electric powered town in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, when a canceled government dam and fertilizer plan was canceled following the war. What follows is planning with Edison, a series of court and public battles, and newspaper coverage that would shape and alter the story. Hager weaves a compelling, engaging story and shows that there is always a reason to go back to history.
  
  For environmentalists and historians alike, there is much to consider since Ford planned an "electric city" free of coal. Yet, Ford is also shown as the problematic figure he was - anti-Semitic often, not always well-spoken, and so forth. Hager tracks and narrates the history of Ford (and, to a lesser extent Edison) as they planned an electric city that never came to be as politics and social expectations merged. The journey chronicled here is compelling. It puts much of the early twentieth century and its industry in a new perspective and shows the relationships and challenges between industry, politics, and personalities in both areas.
  
  Recommend this one if you like historical considerations that often get little attention. The author writes compellingly, and it is an engaging report.
• 
  Nan Williams

  This was a wonderful and wonderfully enlightening account of the building of the Wilson Dam in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and how that led to the establishment of TVA and hydroelectric power in the region. It was very readable and very interesting. Being from Alabama I knew the basics of TVA and knew Wilson Dam was the first hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River, but did not know that it was started by Woodrow Wilson to provide power for munitions factories for WWI and abandoned 2/3 of the way through as the war ended before it was finished. It then caught the attention of Henry Ford who wanted to finish it in order to build an entire industrial complex in the area which would feed his automotive needs. Ford also planned a whole city, Ford City, which would stretch 75 miles along the Tennessee River. Lots of politics and political maneuverings ensued over the next 2 decades and next 3 presidential administrations.
  
  As interesting as this accounting was it was very difficult to maintain a mental timeline while reading it. The author jumped hither and thither in his telling. He also repeated a lot – I guess he forgot he’d already covered those things. It would have been most helpful if each chapter had been entitled with the date and place of what would be covered in it. Perhaps it wouldn’t have seemed so disorganized then.
  
  This was an ARC from NetGalley and Abrams Press in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded up.
  
• 
  J Earl

  Electric City from Thomas Hager is an interesting and detailed account of an often overlooked endeavor, part history book and part social/economic analysis.
  
  To the extent that I knew anything about this project it was as a footnote to the history of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Reading the details, seeing how so many factors went into both the idea of a new beneficial way of building and living as well as the failure of such a project, was enthralling. It is also hard to avoid seeing how the same forces, with the same faults and virtues, are at work today in many areas.
  
  I think this will appeal to a wide range of readers. If you simply like history that reads at times like fiction, but very well researched, you will enjoy this book. If you are particularly interested in lesser known events and projects, this will be quite an eye-opener. If you read with an eye toward what the past says about our present, you will definitely find a lot to digest here. And if you like reading about the "great men" of the past, well, Edison and Ford (for better or worse) fits that description.
  
  As an aside, if you like reading about projects that were intended to have major social and cultural impact but failed largely because of subterfuge and pettiness, I would recommend Soul City by Thomas Healy.
  
  Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
• 
  MH

  An entertaining history of Henry Ford's decades-long attempt to buy an abandoned government complex, used for producing nitrates for use in munitions during the first World War, and the then-unfinished Wilson Dam - and the massive amount of electricity it would produce. Through three presidential administrations this was an ongoing campaign of Ford's, with his publicity machine promising the city of the future to the desperate dirt farmers of the region, and his opponents seeing it as a cynical land grab - Hager traces how this conflict played out in the newspapers, the halls of Congress, and the court of public opinion, as seemingly earnest lobbyists on both sides deal with the costs and benefits of giving public lands to private business. It's a very even-handed history (largely because it's unknown how much of Ford's proposal was a genuine desire to create a Southern utopia, and how much was empty bluster and empire-building), and Hager does a fine job writing clearly about the issues involved and telling this now largely forgotten story.
  
  I was lucky enough to win a copy of Electric City in a Goodreads giveaway.
• 
  Ryan McKenzie

  I did enjoy this book, but the informal style that makes it easy to read also makes it a little frustrating if you are trying to ask complicated questions about the geo/political/social/economic situations that happened in the story of Muscle Shoals.
  
  Important American events that probably had quite a significant impact on the development on Muscle Shoals were boiled down to "A happened to B, which means C happened".
  
  Ok, but why? At the risk of tangents, which exceptional writers are able to manage, it's important to discuss in depth how these things impacted this project. The author dodging these in-depth questions imply that Muscle Shoals was impacting in an peripheral way, and that what really sank the community was languishing of important policy in legislative hell. The focus of detail on congressional hearings, opposed to glossing over to events such as the Stock Market Crash, Dust Bowl, WWII, etc. makes the political aspects of this book stick out rather than the real geopolitical issues happening in the early 20th century.
• 
  Joanie

  This book, along with Bill Bryson's "One Summer: Summer, 1927" remind me that our world has always been rapidly advancing. We like to believe that today's technology is enabling an evolution that has never been seen. When we read books about little-known periods in time like the early 20th century, it's a jarring reminder that mankind is always forward-thinking and entrepreneurial. That said, one thing that was uber interesting was noting the similarities between Henry Ford and Donald Trump. For example, many "common folks" supported him running for President because he didn't really have any positions on any major issues, and that is what they liked about him. Sound familiar? He appealed to people who were unable or unwilling to ruminate on complex issues. Since Ford was an avowed anti-semite, it is frightening to imagine how our world might be different today had he been President during WWII instead of FDR. They say that people who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it, and that makes me that much happier that I read this book.
• 
  Kristine

  Electric City by Thomas Hager is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early May.
  
  Hmm, I hadn't known that these two men had worked as partners, especially to facilitate the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama up until I came across this book's fanciful, windswept, above average speed narration as it meanders through time and covers the movers and shakers of those who really upheld the use and ingenuity of electric power, and the politicians who were either for or against their cause. It might’ve worked better as a teleplay, due to the quickness of the story and the vast gallery of people that are covered.
• 
  Sharlene

  When I was 4 Henry Ford gave me a peacock feather. I had gone to work with my grandfather who was a gardener at Fair Lane. Obviously I have read a lot about Henry Ford but this was a new area I had not heard about. It's a fascinating look at what Ford and Edison envisioned for a Utopia in the south. There's info about the relationship between the two along with their hopes for this project. Eventually the dams would be built as part of the TVA under Roosevelt and you can decide whether the benefits of electricity outweighed the loss of land and heritage.
• 
  Stephen Dutton

  It feels like a false title. It is not so much a lost history of Henry Ford & Thomas Edison as it is a lost history of the Tennessee River Authority. OK Ford had a utopian idea for it but instead the FDR administration of the Great Depression basically took over and did it thing instead. The stupid suppositions the author makes in the last paragraphs about what HE thinks could have happened if FORD did the thing blows his cover, his bias, and ruins the book.
• 
  Brent

  Fascinating (and balanced) read about the damming of the Tennessee River. Part exploration of the character of Henry Ford and his business techniques, part exploration of Progressive Senator Norris, part the story of the development and operation of the TVA…each section provides an interesting story of the 1910s, 1920s and the 1930s.
  
  Lots of history and research evident, might have been improved by modern day exploration of the topic through a travelogue style.
• 
  Nancy Mcclenathan

  This well-written historical book is about Henry Ford’s fight and dream for Muscle Shoals. The author’s account of this little known attempt is expertly woven into America’s history. This book is both informative and interesting.
  
  Thank you Abrams for giving me a copy of this book to read. I throughly enjoyed it and would recommend to history buffs.
• 
  Dave

  Relatively short and we’ll written book. I give it three stars because the content was not interesting. The book built up well, but basically went nowhere. This is my fourth Thomas Hager book and the earlier three were outstanding. If this is your first time reading one of his books and are disappointed, I urge you to please read one of his other titles.