Like Mr. Snow, Mr. Curcio devotes a fair amount of attention to the mystery of Ford's bigotry.

WSJ: Book Review: I Invented the Modern Age | Henry Ford

Mr. Curcio suggests that Ford's sourness began during World War I, when he suddenly felt an impulse to preach to the masses.

WSJ: Book Review: I Invented the Modern Age | Henry Ford

This humiliation, Mr. Curcio suggests, paved the way for Ford's later missteps.

WSJ: Book Review: I Invented the Modern Age | Henry Ford

He was already quarreling with James Couzens, the business genius who, according to Mr. Curcio, "was just as responsible" for the company's success as Ford.

WSJ: Book Review: I Invented the Modern Age | Henry Ford

" Mr. Curcio's prose is more dense, but his book is studded with sharp descriptions, such as when he notes that Ford's thought processes "jumped from one subject to another without prelude, " making his utterances "cryptic to the point of incoherence.

WSJ: Book Review: I Invented the Modern Age | Henry Ford