This is a comprehensive history of the profession and aesthetics of American automobile design. The text reveals how the appearance of vehicles became an integral part of the system of mass production and mass consumption forged in the struggles of US society. It traces the development of automobile design, from the first utilitarian cars around the turn of the century to the most modern of symbol-laden cultural icons. The author shows how the demand of working Americans for beautiful, stylish and constantly improving cars was a response to the deprivations of mass production. Combining a...