num_pages: 416
description: From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Ingrassia comes a narrative of America like no other: a cultural history that explores how cars have both propelled and reflected the national experiencefrom the Model T to the Prius. From the assembly lines of Henry Ford to the open roads of Route 66 from the lore of Jack Kerouac to the sex appeal of the Hot Rod Americas history is a vehicular historyan idea brought brilliantly to life in this major work by Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Paul Ingrassia. Ingrassia offers a wondrous epic in fifteen automobiles including the Corvette the Beetle and the Chevy Corvair as well as the personalities and tales behind them: Robert McNamaras unlikely role in Lee Iacoccas Mustang John Z. DeLoreans Pontiac GTO  Henry Fords Model T as well as Hondas Accord the BMW 3 Series and the Jeep among others. Through these cars and these characters Ingrassia shows how the car has expressed the particularly American tension between the lure of freedom and the obligations of utility. He also takes us through the rise of American manufacturing the suburbanization of the country the birth of the hippie and the yuppie the emancipation of women and many more fateful episodes and eras including the cars unintended consequences: trial lawyers energy crises and urban sprawl. Narrative history of the highest caliber Engines of Change is an entirely edifying new way to look at the American story.
language: English
title: Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars
publisher: Simon & Schuster