ROAD TRIP!

Three titans of industry (and one writer) rough it.

Inventor Thomas Edison and car manufacturer Henry Ford are tired from their jobs making “life easier for others.” They decide to go on vacation and motor off to explore the country in one of Ford’s Model T’s. They invite along their friend nature writer John Burroughs; the next summer, Ford and Edison take another trip, this time with tire kingpin Harvey Firestone. Finally, all four of them decide to travel together, and the foursome innovate the road trip. The book describes the places they visited, the activities they enjoyed, and how these stuffy old figures from history “acted more like kids at camp than men on vacation.” Busy illustrations in a muted palette, reminiscent of sepia films highlighted with green and orange, help make this feel like an old-timey movie. While some children, especially those with an interest in history, will get a kick out of this lighthearted but informational text, the niche topic will limit its audience. Furthermore, the overall cheerful tone means that Henry Ford—an outspoken Nazi sympathizer admired greatly by Adolf Hitler—comes off as a peculiar but lovable gentleman, a complicated authorial choice. Extensive backmatter includes photographs, a map, and further anecdotes from the foursome’s joint vacations, which stretched over a decade. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This car-centered history lesson is a lemon.