The Hardest, Longest Race with Eric Moskowitz
Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Race that Changed America
Where and When
Oct 01, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Larz Anderson Auto Museum, 15 Newton St, Brookline, MA 02445, USA
All the Details
Doors Open at 6:30 PM, Presentation Starts at 7:00 PM
A 4,106-mile race. Barely passable roads. Broken bridges, brutal mountain trails, mechanical failures, sabotage, and a victory that turned out to be a fraud.
In 1909, driving across America was almost unthinkable. But when millionaire M. Robert Guggenheim announced an ambitious automobile race from New York City to the Seattle World’s Fair, a handful of automakers dared to take on the challenge. Among them was Boston luxury carmaker Shawmut, fighting for survival after a factory fire, and Henry Ford, determined to prove that his small, inexpensive Model T could conquer the continent and change the future of the automobile.
Over 23 grueling days, drivers battled mud bogs, washed-out bridges, treacherous mountain passes, mechanical disasters, and even sabotage as they pushed their primitive machines farther than many believed possible.
Drawing on forgotten newspaper accounts, letters, archival discoveries, and interviews with descendants, Moskowitz uncovers an incredible story of adventure, endurance, corporate ambition, deception, and the dawn of the American automobile age.
For lovers of automotive history, American history, adventure, and a good scandal, this is an evening you won’t want to miss.
About Eric Moskowitz
Eric Moskowitz spent 12 years as a reporter at The Boston Globe, where he covered transportation, won the National Headliner Award for feature writing, and shared in the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath. He has written for The Atlantic and The New York Times, and his stories have been featured in The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Newspaper Narratives anthologies. A Needham native who studied American history at the University of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Brookline with his wife and children and works as a staff writer at Harvard.
Copies of The Hardest, Longest Race will be available for $30. Cash, credit card, or Venmo accepted.