TEASER: The Romance of the Automobile

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, pre-sale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.

You’ve probably heard us talking about how we have written a book that will be coming out this fall. We are super excited to share more about that very soon. We’ve spent a lot of the last year in the research and writing process. And what became apparent very soon was that there were a lot of things that we weren’t going to be able to fit into the book, no matter how hard we tried.

So we put together a little bonus episode for you on one of the fascinating things we found that just didn’t make the final draft.  It’s a book called The Romance of the Automobile Industry: Being the Story of Its Development—Its Contribution to Health and Prosperity—Its Influence on Eugenics—Its Effect on Personal Efficiency—and Its Service and Mission to Humanity as the Latest and Greatest Phase of Transportation. 

Published in 1916, it’s essentially a 460-page ad, lavishly illustrated with pictures of bewhiskered white men and their inventions. And even after all the time we’ve spent thinking about cars, this book still had some surprises. (And yes, you read that right…he talks about eugenics. We’ll explain.)

Subscribe on Patreon for access to the whole bonus episode!