Primary transportation shifted from animals in the late 19th century to automobiles in the first decades of the 20th century. What actors, innovations, and/or events helped promote the car’s rise? What changes to the lived environment were necessary to accommodate broader adoption of cars? In your opinion, which was most important and why? You must address three different countries in your analysis.
Essays must draw on lectures, class readings, and primary sources used in class. You MUST use at least one primary source discussed in class (this includes additional sources posted in lecture modules).
Papers should be 5 pages, typed, double spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins, Times New Roman font. Please include a title, your name, and page numbers. Papers must include in text citations from proper references. Citations can be either parenthetical in text or in footnotes.
Parenthetical citations/footnotes should include the author and page numbers. Examples are as follows:
Class Notes= (Eaglin, Class Notes 9/13)
Reading= (author’s last name, p. 81)
Handouts from class (posted under modules on Carmen)= (Early American Car Advertisements); (1925 Brazilian Ford Ad)
ESSAYS ARE DUE ON FRI, SEPT 20 BY 5PM.
Some primary sources are the pictures in the slides and also the joke book.
Below is the reading list of the pages you can use to include in my essay.
Week 1: Welcome/ Pre-Car
Session 1 (Aug 25): Welcome
Session 2 (Aug 27): Early Technological Development: birth of the internal combustion engine and pollution
READING: Tarr, “The Horse- the Polluter of the City,” p. 323-334 (CARMEN)
Week 2: Ford and GM
Session 3 (Aug 27): Henry Ford, General Motors, and Mass Production
READING: Ingrassia, “When Henry Met Sallie: Car Wars and Culture Clashes at the Dawn of America’s Automotive Age”, p. 1-30. (CARMEN)
Session 4 (Aug 29): Sloan, GM, and Mass Consumerism
READING: The People’s Car, chapter 1 (focus on p. 11-26)
(Access to the book available via OSU library- https://library-ohio-state-edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/record=b7715961~S7Links to an external site.)
Week 3: Global Case Study: International Markets
Session 5 (Sept 3): European Car Markets
READING: The Automobile Age, chapt 6, p. 73-86 (CARMEN)
Session 6 (Sept. 5): Automobile’s Growing Influence in Brazil
READING: The Street is Ours– Excerpt from Chapt 4, p. 149-176
*stop at section entitled “Shifting the Blame” on the top of p. 176
(Access to the book is available via OSU library-https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/street-is-ours/92F3D23AF289478A2C4C5DFCA6B285D3)Links to an external site.
Week 4: Cars and War
Session 7 (Sept 10): German Car Production and Hitler
READING: The People’s Car, chapter 2, p. 57-80