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Lavishly illustrated, AUTOMOBILE is a compelling and eye-opening social history of the car.How could we exist without the car? The car has changed everyday life more than any other invention. Modern life is unimaginable without it. AUTOMOBILE traces the car's momentous history through a series of fascinating journeys. Ruth Brandon travels from Paris to Detroit, from Berlin to Belfast and to the West Coast of America, uncovering crucial aspects of its development and impact. She explores the first road races of the early 20th century; the car's apotheosis in Ford's factories; the Nazi passion for the Volkswagen; and the ultimate car city, Los Angeles. Her wide-ranging narrative reveals how the car has affected every aspect of life - urban planning, the environment, politics, gender wars, advertising, design, music, fashion and art.The car's journey is still far from complete. It has continents yet to conquer: the empty motorways of China are waiting to be filled, populations in Africa and South America want the same freedoms as the West. Yet we already face problems of fuel shortage, congestion and pollution. What will happen next is one of the great questions of our time. Written with verve and wit, AUTOMOBILE is social history at its most absorbing and illuminating.