International Harvester, McCormick, Navistar: Milestones in the Company that Helped Build America

Among our business history books most suitable for the coffee table, Milestones takes the reader through 175 years of American history in all its richness. Services included:

  • A wide-ranging documentary and photographic research project
  • Production of numerous illustrated timelines
  • Hundreds of captions for historical images and custom photography
  • Close coordination with production team

Requirements

As it approached its 175-year mark, leaders of the Navistar Corporation wanted a business history book in a single volume. Realizing their company was deeply embedded in American history and technological transformation, they sought an expert historian.

Solution

Ken and coauthor Lee Sullivan drew upon books, articles, newspapers, and the International Harvester Collection at the Wisconsin State Historical Society. Then they wrote a story that put the familiar contours of corporate history into sharp relief. Their account also provided new insights into Navistar’s ties with turning points in American history.

Working through hundreds of illustrations and custom photography, Ken wrote hundreds of captions ranging from pithy phrases to paragraph-length explanations. The resulting coffee table book did justice to the scope of its subject and the people who drove change. As television personality Hugh Downs wrote in his introduction, “This book is an American story, but it’s also a human story.”

Project Specifications

  • 12” x 11”
  • 256 pages
  • Full color, glossy coated, pages
  • Hundreds of photos and captions
  • Dozens of timelines and sidebars
  • Close coordination with a large production team