From the Model T to the SUV, "Autophobia" reveals that our vexed relationship with the automobile is nothing new - in fact, debates over whether cars are forces of good or evil in our world have raged for over a century now, ever since the automobile was invented. According to Brian Ladd, this love-hate relationship with our cars is the defining quality of the automotive age. And everyone has an opinion about them, from the industry shills, oil barons, and radical libertarians who offer cars blithe paeans and deny their ill effects, to the technophobes, tree huggers, and killjoys who curse cars, ignoring the very real freedoms and benefits they provide us. Focusing in particular on the automotive transformation of our world's cities, and spanning settings as varied as Belle Epoque Paris, Nazi Germany, postwar London, Los Angeles, New York, and the smoggy Shanghai of today, Ladd explores this conundrum, acknowledging adherents and detractors of the automobile alike.

About the Author
Brian Ladd is a research associate in the history department at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He is the author of The Ghosts of Berlin, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"The work of Autophobia is precisely about looking again at what has been said, by whom and for what reason, and why none of the voluminous critiques of the car - by any number of estimable figures - seem to have much mattered. [Ladd] does this with equanimity and scholarly aplomb... and for a slender volume, this book has a lot under the hood." (Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times Book Review)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226467412
Author Brian Ladd
Format Hardback
Page Count 236
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 510g
Dimensions(mm) 24mm * 16mm * 2mm