Alan Judd
Va Va Voom
The Life of the Automobile: A New History of the Motor Car
By Steven Parissien
Atlantic Books 437pp £25
If you wanted an introduction to the history of the 20th century you could do worse than study the history of the car; in which case this book would be a good a place to start. Because the story is one of individual enterprise, corporate endeavour, national self-assertion and global phenomenon, it reaches parts that histories of other industries – with the arguable exceptions of its twin sister, oil, and, in the previous century, rail – generally don’t reach. It is very much social history – the car shaped our towns, roads, housing, habits and aspirations – as well as economic and, to a surprising extent, political history.
Hitler, who adored cars without ever learning to drive, was a determined supporter of what in Edwardian England was called motorism. He built 4,300 miles of autobahn with 3,000 new bridges, sponsored the creation of the ‘people’s car’ (the Volkswagen Beetle), personally opened the annual Berlin motor show, and ensured
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Though Jean-Michel Basquiat was a sensation in his lifetime, it was thirty years after his death that one of his pieces fetched a record price of $110.5 million.
Stephen Smith explores the artist's starry afterlife.
Stephen Smith - Paint Fast, Die Young
Stephen Smith: Paint Fast, Die Young - Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon by Doug Woodham
literaryreview.co.uk
15th-century news transmission was a slow business, reliant on horses and ships. As the centuries passed, though, mass newspapers and faster transport sped things up.
John Adamson examines how this evolution changed Europe.
John Adamson - Hold the Front Page
John Adamson: Hold the Front Page - The Great Exchange: Making the News in Early Modern Europe by Joad Raymond Wren
literaryreview.co.uk
"Every page of "Killing the Dead" bursts with fresh insights and deliciously gory details. And, like all the best vampires, it’ll come back to haunt you long after you think you’re done."
✍️My review of John Blair's new book for @Lit_Review
Alexander Lee - Dead Men Walking
Alexander Lee: Dead Men Walking - Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World by John Blair
literaryreview.co.uk