The International Harvester Company: A History of the Founding Families and Their Machines Paperback – May 28, 2019

The new book by Mr. Rosenberg is well written overview and detailed history of the founding families of International Harvester Co. It is apparent he has spent time mining many public and archival source to pull together this history. I have done extensive research on the McCormicks of Chicago and on Brooks and Chauncey McCormick. This is a fascinating history as well of the rise (and fall) of IH. It also interweaves Chicago, national history with the story to provide some context. The information of the Deerings and the McCormicks (James and Charles Deering and Brooks and Chauncey McCormick) and their contribution to art collecting and the Art Institute of Chicago is very interesting historical information. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. agricultural history, the history of gilted age scions of industry and on the history of International Harvester.

Very interesting on the family history.

I feel the author tried to make sense of a complicated situation, but I also think he relied heavily on a book commissioned by the Cyrus Hall family. I am a firm believer through research that Cyrus was a creative businessman and had little inventive abilities. Without Cyrus, the reaper would have not gone anywhere and it is clear that his was not the first reaper. I am confident that the inventive genes in the family were Robert followed by his sons Leander James and William Sanderson. I also feel the author neglected to give more credit to Jo Anderson who made more than one significant contribution to the reaper. It is my understanding, passed down in family history, that Cyrus did not heed his mother's wishes to benefit his 5 surviving siblings and was self-serving. The author implies Leander James was interested in self-claim, but I disagree with that notion; Leander James was much more generous and humble than described in this book. Additionally, I found the writing of this book a bit hard to follow jumping back and forth, and odd details inserted in odd places with no real relevancy. I did find the later history of IH to be interesting. Overall, glad I got the book, but it perpetuates the idea that Cyrus was the inventor of the reaper, where my research indicates he an impressive business man, but does not deserve credit for the invention of the reaper.

Why is the cover of a IH book the color green? Obviously whoever published this didn't do their homework.