Thinking small : the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen Beetle
Hiott, Andrea2012
Book
In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott's wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today's automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford's Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler's concept of "the people's car" would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world's most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, Heinrich Nordhoff, and Bill Bernbach. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility-a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.
Main title:
Thinking small : the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen Beetle / Andrea Hiott.
Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Imprint:
New York : Ballantine Books, c2012.
Collation:
xviii, 492 p. : ill., ports. ; 22 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- Wobbly first steps -- The darkest hours come just before dawn -- Ooh : growing up -- Like pigeons from a sleeve -- Still going -- And going.
ISBN:
9780345521422 (hbk)0345521420 (hbk)
Dewey class:
629.2222
LC class:
TL215.V618
Language:
English
BRN:
32780
Electronic access:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Library at the Dock | -Science and Nature | SCIENCE 629.2222 HIOT | Available |