Publisher Description
America was made manifest by its cars. From the assembly lines of Henry Ford to the open roads of Route 66 and Jack Kerouac, America’s history is a vehicular history—an idea brought brilliantly to life in this major work by the acclaimed author of Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry’s Road from Glory to Disaster.
One of the nation’s most eloquent and impassioned car nuts, Paul Ingrassia offers a wondrous epic in fifteen automobiles, including the VW Beetle, the Chevy Corvair, Robert McNamara and Lee Iacocca’s Mustang, the Pontiac GTO, Honda’s Accord, the BMW 3 Series, and the Jeep, among others. Through them, the author shows us much more than the car’s ability to exhibit the particularly American tension between the lure of freedom and the obligations of utility; he takes us through the rise of American manufacturing, the suburbanization of the country, the birth of the Hippy and the Yuppy, the emancipation of women, and so much more, including the car’s unintended consequences: trial lawyers, energy crises, and pollution. Narrative history of the highest caliber, Engines of Change is an entirely edifying new way to look at the American story.
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“This book (like the title suggests) is the American dream in fifteen cars. Some of the facts about those cars, the history behind their existence, and the history they represent were very surprising. I didn’t know that the Corvette almost wasn’t made and the war of the great tail fins happened. Nor did I know the story behind the Prius and the Beetle. This book showed me what the American Dream is all about through the lens of a subject I love; cars. It changed my view of how we the people have evolved and adapted to overcome the obstacles placed before us and it proved to me that we make great cars. Each chapter is the story and relevance for another car. There weren’t really and debatable subjects except maybe which car is the best. I would recommend this book to people who care about the history of the American Dream and who care about cars. I loved this book because I care about both.”
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Tim (5 out of 5 stars)
