PROF'S CHOICE

Rivetheacls, Obsession, and Automobility

James J. Flink. The Automobile Age (M.I.T. Press, 1988). Acomprehensive overview of the; automobile industry's history in North America, Western Europe, and Japan. Flink coined the term "automobilin " to characterize the type of civilization that first arose in the United States during this century.

David gartman, Auto Opium: A Social History Of Automobile Design:(Routledge, 1994). Gar! man argues: that until the 1980s American automobiles were designed: to relieve the stress, anxiety, and alienation created by mass production and life in the industrial city.

James Howard Kunstler, The Geography Of Nowhere (Simon & Shuster,) 1993). This is a witty and"savage historical critique of the impact of the automobile on our;built environment. America's obsession with cars, Kunstler insists', has led us to create places that demean our civilization and destroy the for genuine democratic community.

Ben Hampeir, Rivethead: Tales From The Assembly Line (Time Warner, 1986). This autobiography of a Flint. Michigan. auto worker who suffers, a mental breakdown after years as a "shop rat" is both terrifically funny and terrifying. He tells In the big three automobile companies were unable to respond to Japanese imports. It is simply the best presentation of the work that makes automobility possible.

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