Thanks to Abrams Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

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!

I wanted to love this book, but I was disappointed. I found it to be quite dry, and boring at times. I did not realize going in that the majority of this book would be discussing politics, instead of the people of the Muscle Shoals region itself. In addition, Edison plays an incredibly minor role in this book, especially when compared to many of the other men mentioned throughout.

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!

It's not that this isn't a good book, but it is more of a middle of the road, it's ok type of book. The title is a little misleading in that Edison plays a small part and is never truly enthusiastic when it comes to Ford's vision. Much of the last third of the book has little to do with Ford, and he is mentioned only in comparison as to what did happen.

Just after WW1 Ford was in his most "prophetic" and what was like his "Robert Moses" period. Ford had wanted to recreate his company into the world's first conglomerate. He had gone on a buying spree of steel companies, glass manufacturers and other suppliers of parts for this cars. He even tried to build a city in Brazil (call Fordlandia) to supply rubber for tires. He wanted to be able to control every piece that went into his cars including seats.

Having built the largest car plant in the world at River Rouge, which was vertically integrated. Ford wanted to build a seventy-five mile long industrial park. He would use the electricity from the damming of the Tennessee River (in twenty plus places) interspersed with farming communities and small towns. It was the damming of the river that became controversial. Politicians in the area and those on the approving committees didn't want Ford to control that much electricity.

Ford's request bounced around the Congress for over seven years until he finally gave up. The book now takes up the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority under the Roosevelt Administration. The electricity would be government controlled and eventually force the local privately held Power Companies to lower their prices by half. Hager then discusses how the area around TVA ended up doing just as well as the Tennessee Valley.

My problem with this book is the amount of time that Edison was included, probably less than 20% and Ford (50%) and 30% for TVA. He would have been better to title it the "History of the TVA".

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.

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.

I did not know anything about the subject before reading this book but I do feel the author does a great job telling the story.

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.

Fascinating account of how Thomas Edison and Henry Ford initially came up with the plan of what would later become FDR's TVA. Well done and very interesting.

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.