Arsenal of Democracy (Baime)

Book Reviews
In A. J. Baime’s fast-paced book, The Arsenal of Democracy, the Ford Motor Company and its production of the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber take center stage. To be sure, this was one of many planes produced for the war, and Ford was neither the only car company to manufacture planes nor the largest military contractor. But as Baime points out, “Americans believed that no single Detroit industrialist was contributing more to the war effort than Henry Ford.... The book’s intent is not to be useful to contemporary policy debates but to tell a good story. However, ignoring some of the more challenging complexities of its subject makes The Arsenal of Democracy less rewarding than it might have been.
Charles N. Edel = New York Times Book Review


If anyone remembers Edsel Ford today, it is because of the Ford Edsel, the car created in 1957, 14 years after its namesake's death. It was one of the biggest flops in car-industry history. The only son of automotive wizard Henry Ford has deserved a better legacy, and A.J. Baime has given it to him. Although billed as a history of how the Detroit auto industry geared up to arm the United States, The Arsenal of Democracy is a touching and absorbing portrait of one the forgotten heroes of World War II.
Arthur Herman - Wall Street Journal


This accessible, surprising history is a welcome addition to the inexhaustible list of WWII studies, as Baime (Go Like Hell) claims that perhaps the most important battle was fought far from the battlefield—in the monolithic warehouses of Ford Motor Company in Detroit.... [A] forthright and absorbing look at "the biggest job in all history."
Publishers Weekly


At the core [is] an epic battle between father and son, the cantankerous industrialist Henry Ford, who despised war, and his sensitive son, Edsel, who could never emerge from his father’s shadow.... Baime details [the massive war effort] with great care and empathy for his principal subjects. —David Siegfried
Booklist


The Ford Motor Company goes to war...[is the] latest examination of the transition of American industry to wartime production.... Written in a hyperbolic tabloid style...the book falls well short of the standards set by similar recent works. See Arthur Herman's Freedom's Forge instead. A complex and worthy story reduced to a beach read.
Kirkus Reviews