Drive on! : a social history of the motor car / L.J.K. Setright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Setright, L. J. K.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Automobiles--Social aspects.

Automobiles.

Automobiles--History.

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 500 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Granta, 2003.

Summary:

This is a car book unlike any other. It is quite simply the most stimulating, informative, provocative and witty book on the motor car ever written. The book looks at the remarkable, world-changing history of the car, decade by decade, and charts how cars have been adapted as a result of what society has demanded of them. Separate chapters are devoted to 'where to stop' and 'what to wear', and a series of chapters looks at the technological changes of the last century, from wooden wheels to computer control. L. J. K. Setright, described by Stephen Bayley as being 'closer on the scale of human potential to Isaiah Berlin than to Jeremy Clarkson', expresses forthright views on such things as speed limits, taxation and pollution, and offers fascinating divagations on anything from the origins of the word 'dashboard' to the maximum speed of a raindrop.

Contents:

Part I An Historical Review

Part II The Yoke and the Spur

1 Extortion and Distortion 159

2 Small Expectations: The Decadent History of a Decaying Idea 169

3 Scapegoat and Idol 177

4 The Liberator 185

Part III The Face of the Earth

1 The Big City 195

2 Somewhere to Stop 211

Part IV The Turn of the Wheel: Revolutions in Technology

1 The Nature of Revolution 221

2 ForWarD 227

3 The Can ... of Worms? 235

4 The Popular Front 243

5 Re-inventing the Wheel 251

6 Inconstant Mesh 259

7 Tyres and Timing 267

8 Fear of Flying 277

9 Fluid Power 287

10 Computer Control 297

11 The Air Inside 305

12 Four-wheel Equality 315

Part V Personal Effects

1 Making a Start 325

2 Changing Gears in Changing Times 333

3 What to Wear 345

4 Sport 353

5 Arts and Fashions 375

Appendix Timescale 391.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

1862076286 :

OCLC:

52921452