Driven: The American four-wheeled love affair

Dust jacket notes: "You spend more time with it than you do with your best friend. It is more likely to kill you than the Russians, the Chinese, or the mass murderer down the block. It costs you more during your lifetime than anything except your house. And if you are an average American, you know less about it than you know about politics. Reading Leon Mandel's brilliant book about the automobile is like discovering the hidden - and ofttimes frightening - engine in the heart of America. This book is about automobility, the fact of our national addiction and its consequences, brought home through such examples as the surgeon who drives his Porsche to work at 100 mph, then spends a hectic shift in the emergency room treating injuries that mainly result from highway accidents; a corporate consultant who has found that giving up ownership of an automobile increases his mobility; a female ex-racing driver who discusses the sexual implications of our driving habits; and dozens of others who hold a mirror up to the American highway and garage. In tracing the history of our quest for mobility, and in explaining the results, Driven both defines our problems and offers us choices. Since the evidence shows we drive far less well than Europeans, we can learn how to learn. We think we're wise to Detroit's marketing maneuvers; Driven introduces us to reality, and makes it possible to become a rational buyer of an automobile. We wish to be good citizens, and have been hoodwinked into believing that relatively pollution-free cars are bad mileage performers; the truth is that there are cars available today that pass California's tough emission standards and provide excellent miles-per-gallon performance. Mandel's State of the Car Message also points the way to our mobile future, if we want one. Driven is at once frightening and eye-opening, alarming and optimistic, a work of social psychology that is much needed now."