¶ … Nation on Wheels: The Automobile Culture in America Since 1945, by Mark S. Foster. Specifically, it will contain a scholarly report on the book.
NATION ON WHEELS
Nation on Wheels" is a comprehensive look at the varied history of the automobile in America. While the book ostensibly covers the period in the auto's development from 1945 on, the author begins by "setting the stage" for the automobile's impressive history and impact on the United States by illustrating how horseless carriages came into being, and how the petroleum industry played such a large and lucrative part in the development of the first automobiles. He also includes other national and international developments that had important and lasting effects on the auto industry, from development of a national Interstate highway system, to World War II and the growth of suburbia and commuting after the war. Other influences on the automobile, such as mass transit, environmental pollution, turmoil in the auto industry, and the transformation of the auto industry in the 1990s are also included, because this book is a comprehensive history of the miraculous machines, and why Americans are so enamored of their automobiles. To make the book complete, the author includes his vision of the future of the automobile, including safety and speed issues, and how to reduce commutes. Ultimately, this book is more than a history of the automobile, it is a telling history of American society, and how dependent we have become on our much-beloved autos. The author does a masterful job of conforming this information into a short volume that holds a wide variety of historic and compelling information while still holding to his main thesis; how the car affected Americans and the way we live.
In the Preface, the author states his thesis quite clearly. "Therefore, I attempted to provide much of the essential flavor of the automobile's impact on various facets of American life. Still I had to leave some seasonings out" (Foster viii). There have been many historic volumes written about the automobile, but none that illustrate society...
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