That the Russians, the Germans, French, English, Japanese, and Danes all showed intense interest in making Ford's cars and in Fordism (his practices) testifies to not only the importance of this subject of the American assembly line production process, but to the appropriateness of this book published by M.I.T. Press in 2013. Fordism came into its first major employment one hundred years earlier in 1913. This book is about more than Fordism; it's concerned with the history of the assembly line, of which Fordism is, historically, its major manifestation. Indeed, the author is at pains to point out that Ford did not invent the assembly line method of production. But he did bring it to a level of popularity and employment in the production of the Model T Ford such that his name is inextricably connected with it. The book reduces Fordism to a set of conditions: 1) There is division of labor - each worker has a set of well-defined relatively simple tasks to be performed on a car being moved along on a moving assembly line. 2) The parts that the laborer applies in the assembly process are interchangeable. There is no ad hoc filing, grinding, etc., to make them fit in place. 3) Manufacturing employs specialized machines that have a single function. 4) Machines are not grouped by type but are placed where they are needed. 5) Parts and assemblies are moved automatically from one stage of production to the next - they're not shifted by workers whose job is assembly. There is no wearisome heavy lifting or towing. 6) There is enhancement of production by electrification and good lighting. The author shares with most historians of technology an evolutionary theory of invention, which holds that new devices and practices emerge gradually. The assembly line is an example - it was developing before Ford. The book is roughly divided into two epochs, one of 60 years from 1913 to 1973, the other of 40 years from then to 2013. In 1973 American auto workers saw wages reach an all time (...