Who was Henry Ford? The most famous business leader in world history has been reviled and admired in almost equal measure, to the point where it is hard to distinguish the facts of his life from the myths.

Which portraits of Ford should we believe? Was he the man who invented modern corporate America? Did his Model-T change American culture by giving millions of people access to mass transport and mobility? Or was he an ogre who drove his son and heir, Edsel Ford, to an early grave? The tyrannical employer who spied on his workers and hired an ex-Mafia boss to beat up anyone who stepped out of line?