Ultimate John Deere

A fascinating look at the history of John Deere tractors follows their development from the earliest models to the present, traces the early history of the American Corn Belt, profiles the company founder and others involved in their development, and features a host of full-color images of more than fifty John Deere tractors.

"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." —Wall Street Journal Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars,” the twenty-year period that introduced power farming—the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years. Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming. By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation’s farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That’s why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man’s landing on the moon or the advent of the internet—after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told. A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider’s view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure. With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture—a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.

The complete illustrated history from tractors and machinery to Deere's role in farm life, 1837 to today.

To farmers the world over, there's no tractor like a John Deere. The history of Deere's development of the farm tractor and its fight to be number one in the business is a fascinating tale - told here in complete detail through extensive research and interviews with the designers, engineers, dealers, and farms that made Deere famous. Author Randy Leffingwell traveled across the country photographing tractors from New England to California, bringing together hundreds of stunning color photos along with rare archival images. The full line of Deere tractors are presented, from early experimental models to the Waterloo Boy, the Model D, the Johnny Poppers, modern four- and six-cylinder models, and everything in between. Packed with colorful stories, anecdotes, and never-before-seen illustrations, John Deere is the ultimate tribute to the legendary American tractors.

The complete history of John Deere tractors, one of the world’s leading tractor companies, from the 1920s to the present day.