We're giving away books this holiday season. Click here to learn more about our very special holiday deal. - - - - |
H I S T O R Y ' S G R E A T P E R S O N S BY TIM CARVELL
HENRY FORD If you were to make a list of the top ten industrial giants, and then winnow it down to five, and then down to one, there's little doubt who would remain: Henry Ford. Can anyone equal his genius? The mass-marketing of the automobile wrought changes in the fabric of our daily lives that few inventions since fire can equal. As if that were not enough, the assembly line reshaped modern industry, helping smooth the path from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. But let us now consider how differently history would view Mr. Ford, if, say, he'd been a vicious anti-Semite. - - - - Oh, sure, it's plenty easy to mock David Caruso: Who walks off a hit TV show after only one season, in the hopes of launching a movie career? A fool, that's who. Since his post-"NYPD Blue" failure, Caruso's name has become a shorthand for arrogance and ineptitude. When discussing someone with poor judgment, it's now common to say, "He doesn't have the sense God gave David Caruso", or "Even David Caruso could tell her she's making a mistake." But let us consider for a moment how we'd feel about Caruso's move, if the world only knew that he left "NYPD Blue" to grant the wish of a dying child?
OTHER McSWEENEY'S STORIES:
At Noon the Paper is Too Bright to Look At By Lucy Thomas Poem Opened By Mike Topp A Review of "The Winslow Boy" Written by David Mamet In Response to Harold Bloom's Introduction to The Best of The Best American Poetry By Eric McHenry My Hand Would Be The Correct Size By Lucy Thomas |
Red dot denotes content that is new today.
Black dot denotes newish content.