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Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle
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About Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip Of The
Product Description Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination. Review "The well-researched story of an iconic car...Hiott's debut is an assured, enthusiastic account...The author goes beyond the cars themselves, exploring why the Beetles of the 1960s and '70s--certainly not the sexiest or most impressive automobiles--became hip...if you're a fan of fahrvergnügen, this is essential stuff."-Kirkus Review "[Hiott] presents the history of the whimsical German automobile, unveiling an intricate saga that spans nearly 90 years and includes some of the most monumental shifts in politics, economics, and creativity in the past century...a surprisingly substantial and far-reaching chronicle of 'a car that belongs to the world.'" Publishers Weekly "Hiott set out to find out how this modest car became a symbol of two antithetical ideas of utopia, one animated by racial hatred, the other by unconditional love...The story of its creators and champions is... an 'amalgamation of the larger shifts taking place in the world...'"-Michael Washburn, San Francisco Chronicle "...rich and rewarding in its historical detail..." Brett Berk, Bloomberg Businessweek "...diligently researched...breezy... Such was the car's universal appeal that if it were invented today it would likely be called the iBug." - Wall Street Journal "Hiott's account should appeal to history buffs, car enthusiasts and readers who delight in a fascinating story." -- Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press Advance praise for Thinking Small “I am definitely the kind of person who very much appreciates the difficulty and value of looking at something everyone is familiar with
