Description
Book Synopsis
Trust and Power examines the three major phases of the automobile market and argues that its corporations have faced conflicts with the very customers whose loyalty they sought. Such conflicts were present from the early 1900s through to the post-World War II market.
Trade Review
"...anyone interested in the early years of the automobile industry or creative scholarship in business history will profit from reading this book." -Mark R. Wilson, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"...a valuable tool for those interested in the inner workings of the development of the automobile market." --Louis Rodriquez, Kutztown University: Canadian Journal of History
"This book will stand as a memorial to the times when the highway still beckoned." -Avner Offer, EH.NET
"...a fresh, multidisciplinary assessment of the rise of the American automobile industry." -Karen Linkletter, Michigan Historical Review
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. A New Market, 1896–1916: 1. Risks of innovation, risks of injury; 2. New firms and the problem of social costs; Part II. A Mass Market, 1916–41: 3. Corporate strategies and consumers' loyalty; 4. Engineering a mass product; 5. A machine age aesthetic; 6. The franchised car dealer and consumers' marketing dilemma; Part III. A Mature Market, 1945–65: 7. Automobiles and institutional change; Conclusion; Appendix: Automobile dealer agreements and sales manager contracts, 1900–14; Index.
