Book Review of
Cotten Seiler, Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America (University of Chicago Press, 2008). In his book, Republic of Drivers, Cotton Seiler’s thesis is how for better and worse the interstates have changed our lives (Seiler 1). Talk about how the interstates built or ruined the nations. It essential questions are cultural, philosophical, and political, not automotive nor technological nor even psychological, narrowly defined. Cotton examine how driving a car or private vehicle has come to be part of modern American identity. It a well-known fact in Americans, unless you live in big city like New York or Chicago, or are too poor to afford a vehicle are connect to their cars. Seiler had little of research,
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In a 2013 Huffington Post article entitled “Millennials Would Rather Ditch Car Than Smartphone Or computer,” Tyler Kingkade writes, “Every other age group in the survey said losing their car would have the greatest negative impact on their life, expect millennials”. This different then what Seiler said because millennials are saying that they could not live without their smartphone while Seiler argues that cars are the most important things to people. The ways that the article and Seiler are similar is that the other ages said that they could not live without a vehicle. Similarly, in a 2016 Christian science monitor article entitle “Why are millennials forgoing driving?” Christina Beck writes, you still have people passionate about driving. But you have more people now who are frustrated with driving and have options that didn’t exist in the …show more content…
Reader need to be familiar with the information because it hard to understand. Personally, for me it was harder to read than any other book I read. Readers need to be fully with both theory and all the information drawn from different rules that they need to follow in order to engage the whole with the narrative. This book discuss how Americans love for cars and how automobile used to be an important part of American identity. People who live outside the country may want to read this because it shows how cars became a big trend in American history. To assist, his readers, Seiler includes the following aid in his book: Index, pictures, timelines. Seiler include pictures in the book by having on page 53 showing women driving cars and making the automobile a fashion accessory in the late 1890. He also includes timelines, for example “A 1936 driving manual packer quotes affirms driving as training for citizenship: “learning to drive must be closely connect with learning to live… you cannot teach people to be good driver must be closely connected with learning to live …... You cannot teach people to be good drivers without teaching them the same kind of things that make them good citizens” (Seiler 67). In each time, he would talk about specific time event for that specific time. Lastly, he also has an
There is no doubt that automobile plays an inevitable role in the world’s history, especially in the history of America. Both Kline and Pinch and Flink are on the problem of automobile, but they certainly have various focus. In Three stages of American automobile consciousness written by Flink, it divides the auto history into three stages and mainly argues about the history or the development of automobile industry in America, which is written in a big picture. On the other hand, Kine and Pinch tend to discuss the connection between rural area and automobile, also how gender get involved in the social construction after cars are brought to the America.
Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler surfaced as the “Big Three” auto companies heading into the 1920’s. The invention of the automobile revolutionized transportation; by the 1920’s cars made places easier to access to people. Many of the traditionalists did approve of the automobiles, but some of them just favored the old way of walking places. The traditionalists were fearful of car accidents with the upbringing of the automobile. During the 1920’s a driver’s license was not needed in most states, and there weren’t really any “rules of the road” quite yet. No signs, signals, or traffic guards, and the roads were not ready for automobiles or pedestrians yet. Some traditionalists were not for these life risking ways of automobiles, but they were accepted among most for an increase in transportation and their easy access to even those who were not rich. The modernists at this time were known to want the exciting new changes and risks, so they were all for the automobiles. This rebellious group knew the advancement of technology with automobiles meant transportation to explore, and not be stuck in the same places within walking distance. The 1920’s
“Automobile In American Life and Society.” Automobile In American Life and Society. N.P., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
We take them for granted when driving miles to the closest mall. We are unconscious of their usefulness when traveling to see a distant relative by car. We can't take a moment to stop and admire their beauty and usefulness; the architectural wonders that are highways and their interchanges; which have such a rich history embedded in the American suburbia of today. Let's go back to the early 1900's, when the automobile was starting to become a dominate part of the American life (Morton, 2014). Around this time; a shift began to occur towards private transportation over public by influencing policies in their favor (Nicolaides and Wiese, 2006). One of these polices was created by the Federal Aid Highway of 1925; the United States Highway System which basically expanded the highways across the United States connecting one another, creating new opportunities for growth in many areas (Weingroff, 1996). This had many effects on different factors of the American way of life; specifically suburbia (Morton, 2014). After the war, the private home that was a luxury a few years prior, was now becoming affordable for many thanks to low interest rates and flexible payments through the National Housing Act of 1934, created by the Federal Housing Administration (Fishman, 1987). Perfect example of a policy acting towards private over public was the Los Angles Master Plan of 1941, which pushed the direction of private automobiles and singles households: there being 1.16 million cars (2.4 people per car) and having 31 percent of the city land dedicated for single family homes, this was really solidifying the post suburbia lifestyle (Fishman, 1987). In Los Angeles alone around this time, 900 square miles were transformed to tract development homes ...
In Christopher Wells’ book Car Country: An Environmental History he starts by speaking about his experience over the years with automobiles. He describes how happy he was to own his first automobile. Mr. Wells goes into detail about the inconveniences of driving in towns where everything is fairly accessible, and the necessity of an automobile in major cities. Although Mr. Wells enjoyed his first car, his local surrounding helped shape the attitude he has towards motor vehicles to this day. Mr. Wells also argued that car dependence in America is connected with the landscape. Wells rejects the notion that America ‘s automobile landscape emerged as a byproduct of consumer’s desires for motor vehicles or as the result of conspiracies to eliminate
No technology has had a greater impact on the American life than the automobile. Where we live, how we work, and how we travel, what our landscape looks like, our environment have all been shaped by the automobile. There isn’t a better place that demonstrates the social, geographic, and political changes brought by the industry than Detroit, the motor city. Detroit was situated to be a center of the American automobile industry. All of the material that was needed to build was easily accessible to the city by the great lakes waterways and by rail. The automobile industry helped people with their everyday lives and changed the way people saw the world.
...sportation, petroleum products, and in how many ways they impact and shape the world in which we live. The automobile reformed American’s views on what a proper meal was by introducing fast food chain which created a rapid increase in rates of obesity. Your wealth was only worth as much as the automobile you were driving and success was defined by your car being a Ford or a Mercedes. Although the invention of the automobile created great strife throughout American history, it is all too easy to pile all of the blame on the automobile without pointing fingers back around at society. The automobile has been embraced by countless generations and will continue to be embraced as we progress into the future. Choices come with consequences. As we move into the future, coming generations will continue to deal with consequences that begun before they were even thought about.
In the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among academia’s finest regarding the automobile in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies. Directed towards the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed negatives of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is thriving and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preference over other means of transportation, as well as presents solutions to the social costs of cars. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done in eliminating the social costs of the automobile, experts are not going to stop campaigning against it.
William W. Botorff, “What was the first car? A quick history of the Automobile for young people”,
In the twentieth century, the introduction of the motor vehicle in the United States became not only noteworthy, but also vital in the development of modern American civilization. This technologically complex machine led citizens to vast future dependency on the invention. While mobility was suddenly not limited to alternative, more convoluted options such as railroad stations or bicycles, yet copiously amplified to aid convenience and expanded leisure opportunities. From auto-racing to redesigning infrastructure, motor vehicles allowed progression, digression, and essentially uttermost change to lifestyles of the American people.
Car culture had caused some serious headaches for city planners in the 1950s. They had not anticipated the added traffic when building cities and were forced to adjust their plans with mixed results. There were many side effects to the restructuring of the city, and most were not good for the city center. Business and customers were no longer funneled into the now crowded city center in favor of the more spacious and convenient periphery. Community life as well as business in the city center really suffered as a result of suburbanization caused by the car. Jane Jacobs says in her chapter called "Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles" in the book Autopia, "Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles (259...
Automobiles play an essential role in American society. As if being the major means of transportation was not impressive enough, automotives can be seen on T.V., in movies, in magazines, and can sometimes be indicative of a person’s wealth and social status. On average, Americans drive nearly 40 miles and drive for just over 50 minutes driving per person per day (http://www.bts.gov). That means a person spends roughly one-sixteenth of a day driving. It would make sense, then, to make such an essential part of society as efficient, cost effective, and clean as possible. However, that is not the case. As the years have passed cars have actually begun to move away from efficiency. Hawken writes, “[The automobile] design process has made cars ever heavier, more complex, and usually costlier. These are all unmistakable signs that automaking has beco...
Wachs, Martin. "The Automobile and Gender: an Historical Perspective." University of Califonia Journal. Proquest. Richter Library, Miami.
Some dissidents argue that self-driving cars can lead to complacency and facility in driving (Text 4, Line 10), however, to disprove, that statement is not true about everyone, and self-driving cars need to be catered to everyone’s specific behavior and preferences (Text 4, Line 42). In summary, for some, automatic vehicles may lead to facility in driving, but to many more, this facility will lead to driver disengagement, and furthermore traffic accidents, with a still relatively new
With quicker travel, visits would be easier, but not everyone may see it that way. Steve Parker, in his excerpt, suggests that living in a fast moving society with many different types of transportation, creates more disadvantages than it does advantages. Parker supports his position by first listing examples of how these automobiles are separating us from family and causing old friends to never be seen again. He continues by comparing our generation of a fast moving society, to the close and supportive relationships of the past. The authors purpose is to point out the disadvantages and explain how they outweigh the advantages, in order to explain how a fast moving society is not as much of a good thing, as it is a bad thing.