My Life and Work is Henry Ford's autobiographical account of the creation and early days of the Ford Motor Company. Ford was an American industrialist who pioneered a mass production system that drove down the price of manufacturing automobiles making them affordable for the American middle class. The book details many of the business principles that Ford applied to his industrial concerns. Ford is credited with systematically lowering costs, and paying employees high wages so they themselves could afford the finished product, and increased quality of life. His commitment to providing high quality, low cost manufactured goods resulted in many industrial and commercial innovations.