Irrepressible Automobile: A Freewheeling Jaunt Through the Fascinating World of the Motorcar

Grade 8 Up This eminently readable history of the development of the automobile's place in society starts with ancient visionaries' earliest conceptions of the auto, continues through the era of the first commercially successful models and concludes with the car's importance in the modern world. Names responsible for the development of the autoFord, Duryea, Daimler-Benz, Durant and othersare woven into the story, but it is really the car's social influence that attracts Pizer's attention. Passages on the car's influence on life in the U.S., through changing dating habits, making school busing possible and contributing to the rise of motels and drive-ins, as well as sections on the sometimes wacky ways people relate to their cars are among the book's best. Problems of the auto age, such as pollution, congestion and theft, are covered, as is the role of the auto in art, music and literature. Although his quips and puns get somewhat wearisome at times, Pizer presents an enjoyable, eye-opening look at the auto from an uncommon perspective. Douglas Waitley's The Roads We Traveled (Messner, 1979; o.p.) discusses the early years of the auto in more detail, but Pizer's book is wittier and brings the story up to the present. Jeffrey A. French, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Lib .
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.