Few endeavors in history can match Ford Motor Company’s impact on human civilization. Launched 120 years ago by a bumptious squad of clever eccentrics — led by the odd visionary mechanic Henry Ford — the first mass-production auto manufacturer pushed the rest of the industrialized world into the modern age. Along with other social upheavals, Ford’s reasonably priced and well-made assembly-line Model T mobilized America’s middle class, while the company’s cleverly generous “$5 Day” did no less than redefine industrial labor relations.

Wheels for the World by Douglas Brinkley, one of the finest and engaging historians, is the sweeping saga of how Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company changed our world. In this monumental work, Brinkley reveals the riveting details of Ford Motor Company’s epic achievements, from the outlandish success of the Tin Lizzie to the beloved Model A and V-8, through the glory days of the Thunderbird, Mustang, and Taurus. A revolving door of brilliant innovators appears in every chapter including Thomas Edison, Alfred Sloan, the Wright brothers, Diego Rivera and Charles Lindbergh. Three factories also become characters in this gripping drama: Highland Park, River Rouge, and Willow Run, where B-24 airplanes were mass produced during World War II. Brinkley tells of Ford Motor Company’s expansions throughout the world as well as the amazing acquisitions of Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar, and Mazda in the 1990s. HIs narrative also explores Ford Motor Company’s darker aspects, including its founder’s anti-Semitism and ill-considered wartime pacifism.

Along the way, Brinkley introduces us to a whole cast of colorful businessmen, from the irascible early brains of the outfit, James Couzens (later a U.S. senator), to feisty CEO Lee Iacocca to the earnest young Chairman and CEO of the day, William Clay Ford Jr., whose dedication and vision guided Ford through difficult times. A first-rate narrative and business history of one of the preeminent American corporations, Wheels for the World is distinguished not only by the freshness of the fascinating new material that Brinkley has uncovered but also by the sweep of his story and the compelling clarity of his prose. In his many previous books, Brinkley proved himself a master at crafting brilliant, accessible historical narratives, and Wheels for the World is his finest achievement yet.