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The People's Car: A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle
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The People's Car: A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle Hardcover - 0140

by Bernhard Rieger

Rieger reveals how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became a global commodity on par with Coca-Cola. The Beetle's success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of executives, engineers, advertisers, car collectors, suburbanites, hippies, and everyday drivers across nations and cultures.


From the publisher

At the Berlin Auto Show in 1938, Adolf Hitler presented the prototype for a small, oddly shaped, inexpensive family car that all good Aryans could enjoy. Decades later, that automobile--the Volkswagen Beetle--was one of the most beloved in the world. Bernhard Rieger examines culture and technology, politics and economics, and industrial design and advertising genius to reveal how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became an exceptional global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. Beyond its quality and low cost, the Beetle's success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of people across nations and cultures. In West Germany, it came to stand for the postwar "economic miracle" and helped propel Europe into the age of mass motorization. In the United States, it was embraced in the suburbs, and then prized by the hippie counterculture as an antidote to suburban conformity. As its popularity waned in the First World, the Beetle crawled across Mexico and Latin America, where it symbolized a sturdy toughness necessary to thrive amid economic instability. Drawing from a wealth of sources in multiple languages, The People's Car presents an international cast of characters--executives and engineers, journalists and advertisers, assembly line workers and car collectors, and everyday drivers--who made the Beetle into a global icon. The Beetle's improbable story as a failed prestige project of the Third Reich which became a world-renowned brand illuminates the multiple origins, creative adaptations, and persisting inequalities that characterized twentieth-century globalization.

Details

  • Title The People's Car: A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle
  • Author Bernhard Rieger
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 416
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Harvard University Press
  • Date HIS014000
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780674050914 / 0674050916
  • Weight 1.25 lbs (0.57 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.6 in (21.08 x 14.48 x 4.06 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Germany
  • Library of Congress subjects Volkswagen Beetle automobile - History
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012029928
  • Dewey Decimal Code 629.222

Media reviews

Citations

  • Choice, 10/01/2013, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 07/01/2013, Page 88

About the author

Bernhard Rieger teaches modern and contemporary history at University College London.

Author's home: London, UNITED KINGDOM
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The People's Car : A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle
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The People's Car : A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle

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Hardback. New. Bernhard Rieger reveals how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became a global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. The Beetle's success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of executives, engineers, advertisers, car collectors, suburbanites, hippies, and everyday drivers across nations and cultures.
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The People’s Car: A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle
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The People’s Car: A Global History of the Volkswagen Beetle

by Rieger, Bernhard

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