Women Behind the Wheel: An Unexpected and Personal History of the Car
- Downloads：6452
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2024-03-30 12:20:45
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Nancy A. Nichols
- ISBN：B0C7RPBC7D
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Ann Starr
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Writing about women and cars， Nancy Nichols gives her readers a startling—sometimes funny， often ironic， too often painful—overview of women's status in modern and contemporary America。 This very well-researched book is rife with facts and the insights they give rise to: The text is only 180 pages; the bibliography is a full fifteen single-spaced pages。 Nichols explains how cities were redefined to favor cars over people; how， "the pedestrian is no longer just a neighbor walking quietly to work; Writing about women and cars， Nancy Nichols gives her readers a startling—sometimes funny， often ironic， too often painful—overview of women's status in modern and contemporary America。 This very well-researched book is rife with facts and the insights they give rise to: The text is only 180 pages; the bibliography is a full fifteen single-spaced pages。 Nichols explains how cities were redefined to favor cars over people; how， "the pedestrian is no longer just a neighbor walking quietly to work; the pedestrian is simply another obstacle—ever in the way， always under foot。" Nichols shows the reader that the powers that exclude women from automotive design and engineering continue to create cars that do not fit women's bodies or insure their safety。 She illustrates too the wiles of marketers who have tried to appeal to women with fashions linked to their current models， but who lay on sex appeal in marketing to men。The good of the automobile is culturally linked to the idea of freedom， but the dream is rarely achieved by women， for whom the car more often insures a frenzied， overworked life。 Witness the minivan: "As Soichiro Honda did decades earlier in Japan， car companies in the United States framed independence for women as the ability to fulfill their domestic duties more perfectly。" Later， she notes， "That was the issue so many women of the Baby Boomer generation faced。 They grabbed the golden ring of professional jobs and got sucked into a whirlwind of work， ferrying， and commuting。"Most outstanding is Nichols' integration of the automobile's history， its impact on the landscape， and its reinforcement of gender stereotyping， contrary to any pretense of freeing women。 This is accomplished within the framework of Nichols' own life story as the daughter of a wastrel used-car salesman; as a daughter who escaped him with her mother in a sexy Chevy Impala。 As she recalls all the cars she'd had through life， she links each to a broad issue for women drivers and to her personal story。 I found this a very satisfying method， reinforcing the urgency and poignancy in points made about nuts， bolts， and， crash dummy testing。 A skillfully written book and a real eye-opener！ 。。。more
Sheila McCarthy
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