Cars as History

Several years ago, while at a conference in Washington D.C., I and some friends went to the popular Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe in the Dupont Circle area of the city. While in the bookstore, I noticed what looked like a homeless man standing in the corner of the store. He wore an old cap and rumpled clothes that looked like they hadn't been changed in weeks. Yet, there was something oddly familiar about this man. I continued to eye him, trying to ascertain what exactly was familiar about him, while he continued to cast furtive glances around the store. Just then, a young man, with that bookish, Suburu driving, Gen Y hippie look, walked up to him. While he held the book open, the disheveled, sad looking man pulled out a pen and signed it. Then it hit me. I decided to walk up to him, but at the same time, he slipped out the door as quickly as he had come. Looking at the stack of books from which the young man had selected, it was Ralph Nader's latest. I had just missed a chance to get a signed copy.

Several years earlier, I had heard Nader speak at an event. At that time, I had been able to get him to sign a copy. The icon of fighting for the rights of the "little guy" is a interesting, yet sometimes sadly pathetic, figure who has shaped America today in ways that continue to be felt. I am always struck with a degree reverent awe when in the presence of someone like Nader, a man who has actually changed the course of history.

Paul Ingrassia has written a book that informs while it entertains. Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream In Fifteen Cars is heavy enough to be interesting, yet light enough to be fun. Often journalists like Ingrassia write some of the most enjoyable books on history. What this book lacks in comprehensive coverage, it gives back in readability.

From the Model T to the Prius, Ingrassia documents the shifts in American history that went hand in hand with the ongoing story of the American automobile. Ralph Nader and the Chevrolet Corvair are forever part of the same story. His book Unsafe At Any Speed sounde the death knell for the Corvair. Ingrassia intertwines the story of the cars with the major characters in their story. John DeLorean, the fast living creator of not just "Back to the Future car", but the muscular Pontiac GTO, comes to life within these pages. As does the advertising firm of Doyle,Dane and Burnbach that helped turn an ugly little car with a uglier early history into an American cultuaral icon.

The only place the book falls short is when Ingrassia trys to interweave the social and cultural milieu of the time into the narrative. Although many of the vignettes and anecdotes are fun, the author could have connected the history of the car with the larger shifts in American society. Despite this, it remains an enjoyable book that will leave you wanting to know more. This history of the 20th and 21st Century in 15 cars is well worth the time.