Review by Choice Review
These essays are a welcome addition to the slowly growing literature on the automobile and its effect and place in the world. (See also editor Daniel Miller's Car Cultures, CH, Dec'01.) Sure, the US is car crazy, and the Japanese, as well as the English and Germans, are major players, but what about the automobile in China? How about those wacky South Africans and their cars? In 36 essays, nonautomobile journalists write about the automobile and art, traffic, architecture, road rage, television, and so on. This reviewer's favorite title is "Sexual Ambiguity and Automotive Engineering." The article on obligatory cars of Cuba (in this case, "Our Cars in Havana") is a pleasure to read and beautifully photographed. "Blood on the Nash Ambassador," an essay on cars and film, should appeal to serious film types. This large-format paperback is well made and attractive and includes a good index. The book, with its intriguing, eclectic, and unique essays (some predictably better than others), belongs in libraries strong in culture studies, art, and automobiles. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Most collections. C. J. Myers Arcadia University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This scholarly tome collects 25 new essays and a dozen others that consider automotive culture on a global scale. Certainly, the cars we drive are woven into the very fabric of our modern world, and personal automotive transport is growing at unprecedented rates in developing countries. The themes in the book reflect this growth and focus on cities, design, driving, the car in film and literature, roads and highways, the car in music, and traffic jams. The reach here is worldwide, with individual essays concerning not only the United States but also China, Africa, Western Europe, India, Cuba, Russia, and Japan. Personal transportation has become a leading economic and cultural force that shows no sign of abatement. Much of 20th-century culture is unimaginable without the automobile and, whether good or bad for the world in the long term, the car is overwhelmingly etched into our social landscape. This is the first book to capture the cultural effects of the car on a global scale and is recommended for all libraries.-Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence, RI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Library Journal Review
