Volti (sociology, Pitzer College, Claremont, California) offers a succinct history of the automobile, with particular attention to the automobile's technical evolution as well as the cultural, social, and political context in which that evolution has taken place. Coverage includes discussion of the large-scale production of automobiles; the successes and failures of the industry's entrepreneurs; organized labor and the automotive industry; the automotive-based transportation system, including roads and highways, gasoline, traffic laws, government regulation; and the effects of the automobile on suburbanization, travel and recreation, and the fast-food industry. Academic but accessible to the general reader. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)