This well-rounded portrait depicts Ford as a complex, contradictory figure embodying qualities that are equally admirable and loathsome. His relentless pursuit of his vision resulted in the Model T, transforming the automobile from luxury item to something affordable for average Americans. The narrative lays it out: Ford’s innovative workplace practices included doubling the average wage of automotive-industry workers, reducing the workweek from six days to five and setting new standards for factory safety. Ford was pioneering in his willingness to hire African-Americans, ex-convicts, women, the physically disabled and mentally ill. The undoing of his reputation was largely self-inflicted. He purchased a newspaper to publish anti-Semitic propaganda and distributed it through Ford dealerships. Mitchell vaguely speculates on the roots of Ford’s anti-Semitism and does not mention that Hitler was a great admirer. Adamant opposition to labor unions further tarnished Ford’s reputation as a champion of the common man, though the author’s essential fondness for his subject shines through even here. An ample selection of well-captioned photographs, maps and archival material breaks up the text and demonstrates the tremendous impact of the Ford Motor Company. (chronology, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0155-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
In this abridged and illustrated version of his Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), Bryson invites a younger crowd of seekers on a tour of time, space and science—from the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system to the growth and study of life on Earth. The single-topic spreads are adorned with cartoon portraits of scientists, explorers and (frequently) the author himself, which go with small nature photos and the occasional chart or cutaway view. Though occasionally subject to sweeping and dubious statements—“There’s no chance we could ever make a journey through the solar system”—Bryson makes a genial guide (“for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to come together in a complicated and obliging manner to create you”), and readers with even a flicker of curiosity in their souls about Big Ideas will come away sharing his wonder at living in such a “fickle and eventful universe.” (index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73810-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
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