Engines of Change

A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars

By: Paul Ingrassia

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

America was made manifest by its cars. From the assembly lines of Henry Ford to the open roads of Route 66 and Jack Kerouac, America's history is a vehicular history-an idea brought brilliantly to life in this major work by the acclaimed author of Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster.

One of the nation's most eloquent and impassioned car nuts, Paul Ingrassia offers a wondrous epic in fifteen automobiles, including the VW Beetle, the Chevy Corvair, Robert McNamara and Lee Iacocca's Mustang, the Pontiac GTO, Honda's Accord, the BMW 3 Series, and the Jeep, among others. Through them, the author shows us much more than the car's ability to exhibit the particularly American tension between the lure of freedom and the obligations of utility; he takes us through the rise of American manufacturing, the suburbanization of the country, the birth of the Hippy and the Yuppy, the emancipation of women, and so much more, including the car's unintended consequences: trial lawyers, energy crises, and pollution. Narrative history of the highest caliber, Engines of Change is an entirely edifying new way to look at the American story.

©2012 Paul Ingrassia (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A thoughtful, propulsive assay of the machine that changed a nation, a world." ( The Wall Street Journal)

good history

Good book, but for some reason I found myself wandering and losing track. maybe it was the delivery

An Automotive Essential

Excellent in every conceivable measure. The subtitle "A History of the American Dream in 15 Cars" is somewhat misleading. Rather, the book focuses primarily on each vehicle's impact on the industry and the larger society of the United States, with preferential treatment given to the individual stories behind the cars. I would not have called such an account a history of the American dream, but this is less a criticism of the book than something the prospective buyer should know beforehand. Having been influenced by its predecessor, Crash Course, the book is fairly critical of American companies, but none of it is unfair. The tone is approximately that of a Ken Burns documentary, which is great if you enjoy that sort of thing.

The book itself is spectacular. The history here is objective, but masterfully told. The author digs beyond the bare facts to unveil a long-standing conflict between practicality and pretension in American automotive sensibilities. His personal experience with several of the cars infuses the entire story with liveliness and enthusiasm. I can highly recommend to anyone who enjoys cars in any capacity.

Great stories! Great writing! Great narration!

There's a lot that the listener cam learn here, even if you're
not a really big car guy.

great reading

this book was amazing, couldn't let it out of my eyes. the amount of knowlede you car receive form the industries on the come up.

If you love cars...

Where does Engines of Change rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5 of the informational nonfiction books

What did you like best about this story?

I learned so much about something I thought I already knew a lot about.

Which scene was your favorite?

Learning about John Delorean and how he created the Muscle car.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES

Great Book about the History of American Culture

This is an excellent book. I completely enjoyed it. The author chose cars to tell the history of the last 100 years in America. His book, his perspective, the choices of cars and the story were fantastic. This is a great perspective for anybody who wants to review American culture over the last century.

Paul Ingrassia seemed to be worried that his choices would be argued and in conflict, but I can't think of automobiles that have more of an impact on American culture. more than this Paul delves into the lives of the creators and the stories around them. He pulls all of it together into a tidy little bundle for each one. The book could have easily been twice as long and still not completely explored each of his selections. I would have read the book even if it was twice as long.

This is the best book I have read since "Racing in the Rain." I am completely happy with this book. I love Paul's choices of cars and was fascinated with his telling of the story.

Cars, Computers, and "Engines of Change"

When I was in 9th grade (in 1984) I subscribed to 4 car magazines: Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, and & Automobile. Today, my fondest dream is to own zero cars and to rent an occasional Zip Car (preferably a Prius, Volt, or Leaf) whenever the need for driving should arise.

Reading "Engines of Change" was a good reminder for me about how important automobiles once loomed in my worldview. At some point my passion for cars was replaced by a passion for computers and technology. At 14 I thought I wanted to be an automotive journalist, and 42 I'm very happy to work at the intersection of education and technology (and to be driving a minivan - slowly).

I'm betting that my story, one of a shift from a love of automobiles to a love of computers, is not unique. How many teenagers who once spent time changing spark plugs and reading car magazines morphed into building PCs and hanging out on computing message boards? I have this theory that today's computer geeks were yesterday's car enthusiasts - and that is why today's Apple new product announcements are so much more exciting than the new model car launches.

Ingrassia takes us back to a time when new cars really mattered. He profiles 15 cars that have had a large impact on American culture. These stories are all engaging and well-told, and in learning about the Model T or the Corvette or the Mustang or the Honda Accord we also learn a great deal about the times in which they were introduced. This is not a book about the "15 best cars of all time", rather Ingrassia is interesting in describing the cars that had the biggest cultural impact.

Ford's Model T literally changed how American society was organized, as an affordable mass produced automobile was a prerequisite to a rural to urban migration and a mobile society. The Honda Accord was the first Japanese car to be built in a U.S. factory (in Ohio), and ushered in a long-term transition away from UAW dominance and the decline of The Big 3. The Chrysler minivan (a Lee Iacocca encore after bringing to life the Mustang) killed the traditional station wagon, empowered a new generation of soccer parents, and eventually led to Mercedes Benz's disastrous and short-lived purchase of Chrysler.

Ingrassia is a terrific writer, and is also the author of the excellent Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road to Bankruptcy and Bailout-and Beyond. I hope that Ingrassia's next project is about the only cars that really excite me now, cars that run on electricity (although his chapter on the Prius in Engines of Change is excellent).

I think that there is a huge market of computer geeks (and educational technologists!) just waiting to buy our first batter powered car, as soon as the technology improves and the costs come down to a point where electric cars are nearly competitive with gas powered vehicles.

Why cars grew fins

This is good research into the history of American automotive design. Cars are the second largest capital investment of a household, after shelter, but few authors spend time and energy documenting how the styles we buy come about. It is remarkable that so few men controlled our choices, which seemed so democratic.

read crash course instead

What did you love best about Engines of Change?

the interesting vignettes about the cars and their history

Have you listened to any of Sean Runnette???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

this is similar to crash course

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

there are parts that have to make you laugh out loud

Any additional comments?

Paul Ingrassia wrote two books. This one and crash course. Crash course has a lot of the same material (even to the point of verbatim repetition). This book covers some of what Crash course covers but more superficially. If you are only going to read one of the two books Paul Ingrassia wrote, read crash course. It covers the history better and the same stories are in that book as well. I really think the author had enough material for a book and a half but wrote two.
One other note. The narrator in this book and crash course reads slowly. I found I was able to play the book at 2x (iphone option but might be on your player as well) and understand it perfectly.

Fun Book!

I really enjoyed this book because I learned a lot about many cars, the people behind their creation and what impact they had on society. I don't consider myself a huge car enthusiast (although, I do own a restored sports car from the 60's), but there wasn't a single car in this book that I didn't enjoy reading about. It is amazing how cars can define a culture, make or break an economy, and even have an effect on our political system. The only bad thing about this audio-book, is that there are no pictures. I was constantly looking these cars up on-line to see what they looked like. I'm sure this would be a great coffee table book because I'm guessing it has some great pictures.