The Life Of The Automobile

Author : Steven Parissien
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-05-13
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781466836235

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The Life of the Automobile by Steven Parissien Pdf

The Life of the Automobile is the first comprehensive world history of the car. The automobile has arguably shaped the modern era more profoundly than any other human invention, and author Steven Parissien examines the impact, development, and significance of the automobile over its turbulent and colorful 130-year history. Readers learn the grand and turbulent history of the motor car, from its earliest appearance in the 1880s—as little more than a powered quadricycle—and the innovations of the early pioneer carmakers. The author examines the advances of the interwar era, the Golden Age of the 1950s, and the iconic years of the 1960s to the decades of doubt and uncertainty following the oil crisis of 1973, the global mergers of the 1990s, the bailouts of the early twenty-first century, and the emergence of the electric car. This is not just a story of horsepower and performance but a tale of extraordinary people: of intuitive carmakers such as Karl Benz, Sir Henry Royce, Giovanni Agnelli (Fiat), André Citroën, and Louis Renault; of exceptionally gifted designers such as the eccentric, Ohio-born Chris Bangle (BMW); and of visionary industrialists such as Henry Ford, Ferdinand Porsche (the Volkswagen Beetle), and Gene Bordinat (the Ford Mustang), among numerous other game changers. Above all, this comprehensive history demonstrates how the epic story of the car mirrors the history of the modern era, from the brave hopes and soaring ambitions of the early twentieth century to the cynicism and ecological concerns of a century later. Bringing to life the flamboyant entrepreneurs, shrewd businessmen, and gifted engineers that worked behind the scenes to bring us horsepower and performance, The Life of the Automobile is a globe-spanning account of the auto industry that is sure to rev the engines of entrepreneurs and gearheads alike.

Author : John Heitmann
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-31
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781476669359

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The Automobile and American Life, 2d ed. by John Heitmann Pdf

Now revised and updated, this book tells the story of how the automobile transformed American life and how automotive design and technology have changed over time. It details cars' inception as a mechanical curiosity and later a plaything for the wealthy; racing and the promotion of the industry; Henry Ford and the advent of mass production; market competition during the 1920s; the development of roads and accompanying highway culture; the effects of the Great Depression and World War II; the automotive Golden Age of the 1950s; oil crises and the turbulent 1970s; the decline and then resurgence of the Big Three; and how American car culture has been represented in film, music and literature. Updated notes and a select bibliography serve as valuable resources to those interested in automotive history.

Author : Lewis H. Siegelbaum
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2011-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 0801461480

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Cars for Comrades by Lewis H. Siegelbaum Pdf

The automobile and Soviet communism made an odd couple. The quintessential symbol of American economic might and consumerism never achieved iconic status as an engine of Communist progress, in part because it posed an awkward challenge to some basic assumptions of Soviet ideology and practice. In this rich and often witty book, Lewis H. Siegelbaum recounts the life of the Soviet automobile and in the process gives us a fresh perspective on the history and fate of the USSR itself. Based on sources ranging from official state archives to cartoons, car-enthusiast magazines, and popular films, Cars for Comrades takes us from the construction of the huge "Soviet Detroits," emblems of the utopian phase of Soviet planning, to present-day Togliatti, where the fate of Russia's last auto plant hangs in the balance. The large role played by American businessmen and engineers in the checkered history of Soviet automobile manufacture is one of the book's surprises, and the author points up the ironic parallels between the Soviet story and the decline of the American Detroit. In the interwar years, automobile clubs, car magazines, and the popularity of rally races were signs of a nascent Soviet car culture, its growth slowed by the policies of the Stalinist state and by Russia's intractable "roadlessness." In the postwar years cars appeared with greater frequency in songs, movies, novels, and in propaganda that promised to do better than car-crazy America. Ultimately, Siegelbaum shows, the automobile epitomized and exacerbated the contradictions between what Soviet communism encouraged and what it provided. To need a car was a mark of support for industrial goals; to want a car for its own sake was something else entirely. Because Soviet cars were both hard to get and chronically unreliable, and such items as gasoline and spare parts so scarce, owning and maintaining them enmeshed citizens in networks of private, semi-illegal, and ideologically heterodox practices that the state was helpless to combat. Deeply researched and engagingly told, this masterful and entertaining biography of the Soviet automobile provides a new perspective on one of the twentieth century's most iconic—and important—technologies and a novel approach to understanding the history of the Soviet Union itself.

Author : Neil Young
Publisher : Plume
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2015-12
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780147516510

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Special Deluxe by Neil Young Pdf

Quirky and wonderfully candid, Neil Young's second book of reminiscences is as compelling as his first book. He returns with more unforgettable stories about his six decades in the music business - but this is not your average rock biography. He centres this work on one of his life's passions, cars, using the framework of all the cars he's ever owned to construct a narrative of his life and career, exploring and demonstrating how memories are attached to objects. Young also expresses regret for the environmental impact of his past cars, and now passionately advocates the use of clean energy. 'Special Deluxe' is a mix of memoir and environmental politics by one of the most gifted and influential artists of our time.

Author : Iiya G. Ehrenburg
Publisher : Serpent's Tail
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 1990-04
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1852421304

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The Life of the Automobile by Iiya G. Ehrenburg Pdf

First published seventy years ago, The Life of the Automobile is the novel of the consumer dream. Flamboyant characters like Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan and Andr? Citro?n move in and out of its pages and so, too, do the unhappy victims of the first crash and the first strikes in the car plants. Written at a time when confidence in science was supreme, The Life of the Automobile uncannily predicts the rise and fall of our romance with the car: it is as relevant now as when it was first published.

Author : Ilʹi︠a︡ Ėrenburg
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 1976
Category : Automobile industry and trade
ISBN : UOM:39015028008830

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The Life of the Automobile by Ilʹi︠a︡ Ėrenburg Pdf

Ehrenburg, a top Soviet propagandist, captures not only how man becomes an extension of the machine on the line, but how each and every person involved in the process--from worker to car owner to the head of Citroen himself--is a slave to the machine of capitalism. Ehrenburg's characters make choices. In the context of very commercial modern America today, Ehrenburg's characters seem to be leading unexamined lives, and thus their choices, as much as the system, leads to their unhappiness.

Author : Adrian Newey
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2017-11-02
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780008196813

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How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer by Adrian Newey Pdf

'Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likeable man.' Damon Hill

Author : Ralph Nader
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 1966
Category : Automobiles
ISBN : OCLC:1048652282

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Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader Pdf

Author : Jean-Francois Bonnefon
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 171 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2021-10-12
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9780262365383

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The Car That Knew Too Much by Jean-Francois Bonnefon Pdf

The inside story of the groundbreaking experiment that captured what people think about the life-and-death dilemmas posed by driverless cars. Human drivers don't find themselves facing such moral dilemmas as "should I sacrifice myself by driving off a cliff if that could save the life of a little girl on the road?" Human brains aren't fast enough to make that kind of calculation; the car is over the cliff in a nanosecond. A self-driving car, on the other hand, can compute fast enough to make such a decision--to do whatever humans have programmed it to do. But what should that be? This book investigates how people want driverless cars to decide matters of life and death. In The Car That Knew Too Much, psychologist Jean-François Bonnefon reports on a groundbreaking experiment that captured what people think cars should do in situations where not everyone can be saved. Sacrifice the passengers for pedestrians? Save children rather than adults? Kill one person so many can live? Bonnefon and his collaborators Iyad Rahwan and Azim Shariff designed the largest experiment in moral psychology ever: the Moral Machine, an interactive website that has allowed people --eventually, millions of them, from 233 countries and territories--to make choices within detailed accident scenarios. Bonnefon discusses the responses (reporting, among other things, that babies, children, and pregnant women were most likely to be saved), the media frenzy over news of the experiment, and scholarly responses to it. Boosters for driverless cars argue that they will be in fewer accidents than human-driven cars. It's up to humans to decide how many fatal accidents we will allow these cars to have.

Author : Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2019-10-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781119564812

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Strong Towns by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. Pdf

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Author : Sarah A. Seo
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674980860

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Policing the Open Road by Sarah A. Seo Pdf

Policing the Open Road examines how the rise of the car, that symbol of American personal freedom, inadvertently led to ever more intrusive policing--with disastrous consequences for racial equality in our criminal justice system. When Americans think of freedom, they often picture the open road. Yet nowhere are we more likely to encounter the long arm of the law than in our cars. Sarah Seo reveals how the rise of the automobile transformed American freedom in radical ways, leading us to accept--and expect--pervasive police power. As Policing the Open Road makes clear, this expectation has had far-reaching political and legal consequences.--

Author : Ricia A. Chansky
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2016-08-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781317337195

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Auto/Biography across the Americas by Ricia A. Chansky Pdf

Auto/biographical narratives of the Americas are marked by the underlying themes of movement and belonging. This collection proposes that the impact of the historic or contemporary movement of peoples to, in, and from the Americas—whether chosen or forced—motivates the ways in which identities are constructed in this contested space. Such movement results in a cyclical quest to belong, and to understand belonging, that reverberates through narratives of the Americas. The volume brings together essays written from diverse national, cultural, linguistic, and disciplinary perspectives to trace these transnational motifs in life writing across the Americas. Drawing on international scholars from the seemingly disparate regions of the Americas—North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America—this book extends critical theories of life writing beyond limiting national boundaries. The scholarship included approaches narrative inquiry from the fields of literature, linguistics, history, art history, sociology, anthropology, political science, pedagogy, gender studies, critical race studies, and indigenous studies. As a whole, this volume advances discourse in auto/biography studies, life writing, and identity studies by locating transnational themes in narratives of the Americas and placing them in international and interdisciplinary conversations.

Author : Chris Bruntlett,Melissa Bruntlett
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2021-06-29
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781642831658

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Curbing Traffic by Chris Bruntlett,Melissa Bruntlett Pdf

In Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives, mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett chronicle their experience living in the Netherlands and the benefits that result from treating cars as visitors rather than owners of the road. They weave their personal story with research and interviews with experts and Delft locals to help readers share the experience of living in a city designed for people. Their insights will help decision makers and advocates to better understand and communicate the human impacts of low-car cities: lower anxiety and stress, increased independence, social autonomy, inclusion, and improved mental and physical wellbeing. Curbing Traffic provides relatable, emotional, and personal reasons why it matters and inspiration for exporting the low-car city.

Author : Jason Vuic
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2011-03-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781429945394

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The Yugo by Jason Vuic Pdf

Six months after its American introduction in 1985, the Yugo was a punch line; within a year, it was a staple of late-night comedy. By 2000, NPR's Car Talk declared it "the worst car of the millennium." And for most Americans that's where the story begins and ends. Hardly. The short, unhappy life of the car, the men who built it, the men who imported it, and the decade that embraced and discarded it is rollicking and astounding, and one of the greatest untold business-cum-morality tales of the 1980s. Mix one rabid entrepreneur, several thousand "good" communists, a willing U.S. State Department, the shortsighted Detroit auto industry, and improvident bankers, shake vigorously, and you've got The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History. Brilliantly re-creating the amazing confluence of events that produced the Yugo, Yugoslav expert Jason Vuic uproariously tells the story of the car that became an international joke: The American CEO who happens upon a Yugo right when his company needs to find a new import or go under. A State Department eager to aid Yugoslavia's nonaligned communist government. Zastava Automobiles, which overhauls its factory to produce an American-ready Yugo in six months. And a hole left by Detroit in the cheap subcompact market that creates a race to the bottom that leaves the Yugo . . . at the bottom.

Author : Cotten Seiler
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2009-05-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9780226745657

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Republic of Drivers by Cotten Seiler Pdf

Rising gas prices, sprawl and congestion, global warming, even obesity—driving is a factor in many of the most contentious issues of our time. So how did we get here? How did automobile use become so vital to the identity of Americans? Republic of Drivers looks back at the period between 1895 and 1961—from the founding of the first automobile factory in America to the creation of the Interstate Highway System—to find out how driving evolved into a crucial symbol of freedom and agency. Cotten Seiler combs through a vast number of historical, social scientific, philosophical, and literary sources to illustrate the importance of driving to modern American conceptions of the self and the social and political order. He finds that as the figure of the driver blurred into the figure of the citizen, automobility became a powerful resource for women, African Americans, and others seeking entry into the public sphere. And yet, he argues, the individualistic but anonymous act of driving has also monopolized our thinking about freedom and democracy, discouraging the crafting of a more sustainable way of life. As our fantasies of the open road turn into fears of a looming energy crisis, Seiler shows us just how we ended up a republic of drivers—and where we might be headed.