The Car in History:

Business, Culture, Society and the Automobile in North

America
Wednesday, 7-9 pm
Professor D. Anastakis
Office Location/Hours: LEC 112N; Thursday 8-10:00 am in second term also
12:30-3:00 pm, or by appointment
Email: [email protected]
Home Phone: 416-593-7293 (between 9 am and 8 pm only, please!)
Skype: danastakis
Office Phone: 705-748-1011, ext. 7839

The automobile is the epitome of modernity. It influences almost

every aspect of our lives, whether it’s how we live and work, how we
perceive one another and our social status, to issues such as time, space,
and even dating. From parking lots to advertising to auto workers, this
course explores the immense impact of the automobile-- both the positive
consequences and the negative influences-- on the social, cultural,
environmental, and economic landscape of Canada and North America.
Indeed, this course looks at the automobile’s impact upon local, national and
continental spaces, utilizing the car as a vehicle by which to understand a
wide range of socioeconomic and political changes over the last century.

In the Fall Term, students will partake in intensive seminar discussion

of these issues. The topics addressed during the fall term include only a
fraction of the issues available for discussion. Students are encouraged to
also consider examining topics not covered in the seminar readings for their
research papers/presentations.

In the Winter Term, students will focus on their research papers. In

January and February, students will conduct independent study, research
and writing towards the completion of their major papers. The seminar will
meet only a few times during this period. Beginning in March, students will
begin presenting their research findings to the seminar and submitting their
final papers.

The aim of this course is for students to develop their own opinions on
just what the impact of the automobile has been on life in Canada, and
within a North American context. Students will develop and sharpen these
views by critically assessing historical works together, and by individually
providing book reviews and presenting their research findings to the
seminar. It should be emphasized that this is first and foremost a history
course, and that all of these activities shall be rooted within the historical
discipline.

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 There are no exams or tests in this course.

ALL aspects of this syllabus are subject to change. Please read the
syllabus carefully.

Required Materials:

• Richard Harris, Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban,

1900-1960 (Toronto, 2004).

• Steven High, Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America’s Rust Belt,
1969-1984 (Toronto, 2004).

Course Evaluation:

Seminar Participation: 30%

Review Essay/Presentation: 15%
Research Paper + Progress Report: 45%
Paper Presentation: 10%
Total: 100%

Basis for Evaluation:

This course focuses upon three of the main activities historians

undertake in their work: Reviews, presentations, and original writing. In our
course, this means we will focus on book reviews, presentations, and essays
to determine the student’s final grade. All of these activities are conducted
with an eye towards critical evaluation—students actively critique and assess
the basis of others’ (and their own) work in a balanced and fair manner.
Thus, there is also a heavy emphasis on seminar participation.

The Review Essay:

In the Fall Term, students will write a minimum four-page (at least
four full pages) review of one of the review readings from a given week,
worth 15% of the final grade. This will be a critical assessment of the
effectiveness of the work, examining the monograph from the standpoint of
its argumentation, sources, style, methodology, etc. It is imperative that
the student develop a cogent critique of the work, and provide
evidence to support their position/thesis as to the effectiveness of
the monograph under consideration. Please refer to other published
reviews as a guideline for this assignment. As fourth year students, you are
expected to provide a well-defined and reasoned assessment of your book.
As part of this process, the student will give a ten to fifteen minute
presentation of their assessment/findings to the class, providing an overview
of the student’s review, a context of the reading, and a framework for further

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discussion. This presentation should build upon and develop further themes
discussed in the seminar for that week. The presentation will be worth one-
third of the assignment weight, or 5% of the final grade. Students will be
graded on clarity, presentation style, connection to seminar discussion, and
overall effectiveness of their review.

The Research Paper:

In the Winter Term, students will write a minimum 25-page (that is

text, and does not include notes or bibliography) major research paper
worth 40% of the final grade. Students have three different options in the
types of papers that will be acceptable in this course:

• Option 1: Literature Review/Historiographical Essay:

This type of paper is a historiographical overview of at least five major
works that examine a given field or subfield within the themes discussed
in the “Car in History” course. The paper should contextualize the issue
(using other secondary sources), address the main points of debate that
the works examine, and provide a detailed critique and analysis of those
works and their contributions to the historiographical debate and the
historical question under examination. Questions to be considered can
include: How do these authors differ in their interpretations of a common
issue within the historical subfield? Why types of approaches do they
utilize? How do their sources impact upon their interpretations? What is
your assessment of the effectiveness of each author, and why?

• Option 2: Primary Source Analysis I: The Automobile and

Newspapers, Magazines, and other primary written materials
This type of paper explores a newspaper, magazine or other type of
primary source to assess how this source reflects broader political,
cultural, economic or social concerns towards an issue related to “The Car
in History.” For instance, a student might look at articles found in the
Peterborough Examiner to assess how in a particular period people in the
city dealt with issues such as those considered in the course material.
These could include the emergence of the car, the battle over public
versus private space, regulation of the automobile, or suburbanization of
Peterborough in the post-World War II period. Alternatively, students
might consider different ways that these primary sources can tell us
something about the automobile and its role in society. Building on class
readings, a student might examine automobile advertising in, for
example, the Globe and Mail, and investigate what it can tell us about
question such as gender, or class, or race, or a host of other issues.
Papers in this option would need to be grounded in a solid secondary
literature which details the methodological approach taken by students,
and effectively contextualizes and frames both the issue and the source
being used.

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 • Option 3: Primary Source Analysis II: The Automobile and
Political Debate
Similar to Option 2, this type of paper utilizes primary political documents,
such as the Debates of the House of Commons, the Debates of the
Ontario Legislative Assembly, or Peterborough Council Minutes, to
examine how politicians and parties addressed issues related to
automobiles, the auto industry, and the impact of the car in general, over
time. For example, what was the political response to the debate over
conflict between public and private space in the post-World War I period?
Or how did federal or provincial politicians address the gas shortage in the
1970s? What do these debates tell us about societal or political attitudes
towards a particular issue, and now these attitudes have changes over
time?

Bibliographic length will vary, depending on which option has been

utilized by the student for the paper. While the topic for the paper is
relatively very open (students are encouraged to delve deeply into any issue
which may interest them and that has to do with the social, cultural,
economic or political impact of the automobile), it is required that
students will meet with the instructor during designated office
hours or by appointment during the Fall Term so that consultation
and approval for the essay topic can be given. Students who wish to
pursue an essay that is outside of the three options are welcome to do so,
though any essay which departs from these approaches must also be
developed in consultation with the course instructor.

During the research period (January-February), all students must meet

with the instructor to give a verbal report updating the progress toward the
completion of the essay. This should be accompanied by a one-page
written progress report which will be included in the instructor’s overall
assessment of the paper/presentation. Such a report may include:
topic/possible thesis statement, outline of research program, a list of
sources, assessment of problems encountered, etc. The seminar will also
meet in January and February for a discussion regarding research questions
and methods, and research advances or problems encountered. Students
are required to submit the tentative title of their paper/presentation
by the beginning of the presentation period.
The Research Paper Presentation:

Students will have a maximum of one-half hour to present their papers

to the class in March and April. These presentations, which are worth 10% of
the final grade, will allow students to present their arguments, research
findings, and any other material they deem relevant to the dissemination of
their research results (visual materials, etc.). They should also take
questions from the seminar. Two fellow students will be asked to

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anonymously write a one-page assessment of the presentation/questions
and answers, which will be used to determine the student’s presentation
grade. The final paper will be due one week after their presentation,
allowing the student to incorporate any changes suggested by their fellow
classmates. Thus, determination of the order of presentations/final papers is
up to the individual students, who can choose their particular slots during the
January-February consultation/verbal-written report period (or even
beforehand), on a first-come basis.

Seminar Participation:

A significant part of critical evaluation takes place in the form of class

discussion. Obviously, it is imperative that students contribute
effectively and fairly during the seminar, and class participation will be
30% of their final grade. All students are expected to contribute in every
seminar.

Readings:

Unless otherwise indicated, required readings are posted on the WEB

CT site for this course in PDF or Word formats (except for the two books). All
required readings, including those not on WEB CT, are easily available in the
Bata Library. Review books are not on reserve, and it is each student’s
responsibility to procure the book for their review. Remember: Inter-Library
loans can take up to 6 weeks, so it is essential that you look into getting your
review books as soon as possible. Please discuss with Dimitry if you
encounter difficulties procuring your book.

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Weekly Schedule: Fall Term, 2008

Week 1: September 10
Course Introduction

Outline of the course, expectations, discussion of weekly seminars,

assignments, final presentations, and sign up for review/presentation
readings for Fall Term seminars.

Week 2: September 17
Beginnings: The Emergence of the “Great God Car”

Discussion Readings:
James Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge, MA, 1990), preface and 1-55
(Online, or on reserve)

James Flink, “Three Stages of American Automobile Consciousness,”

American Quarterly, 1972 24 (4): 451-473

Frederick deLuna, “The Rules of the Road: Left, Right or Down the Middle?”
The Beaver 1993 73(4): 17-21

Rudi Volti, “A Century of Automobility,” Technology and Culture 1996 37 (4):

663-685

Review Readings:
James Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge, MA, 1990)
David. Kirsch, The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History (New Brunswick,
N.J., 2000).
James Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the
US Auto Industry (Baltimore, 2001)

Week 3: September 24
From Jaywalking to Parking: The Auto and Early Battles over Public
and Private Space

Discussion Readings:
Peter Norton, “Street Rivals: Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age
Street” Technology and History 2007 48 (2): 331-359

Stephen Davies, “’Reckless Walking Must be Discouraged’: The Automobile

Revolution and the Shaping of Modern Urban Canada to 1930” Urban History
Review 1989 18(2): 123-138

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Gerald T. Bloomfield, “No Parking Here to Corner: London Reshaped by the
Automobile, 1911-61” Urban History Review 1989 18(2): 139-158

Review Readings:
Beth Bailey, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century
America (Baltimore, 1988)
Larry Ford, Cities and Buildings: Skyscrapers, Skid Rows, and Suburbs
(Baltimore, 1994)

Week 4: October 1
On the Line: The Car Reshapes Work

Discussion Readings:
John Manley, “Communists and Autoworkers: The Struggle for Industrial
Unionism in the Canadian Automobile Industry, 1925-1936,” Labour/Le
Travail 17 (Spring 1986)

Stephen L. McIntyre, “The Failure of Fordism: Reform of the Automobile

Repair Industry, 1913-1940” Technology and Culture 2000 41(2): 269-299

Pamela Sugiman, “Privilege and Oppression: The Configuration of Race,

Gender and Class in Southern Ontario Auto Plants, 1939-49” Labour/Le
Travail 2001 47: 83 -113

Steve Meyer, “Rough Manhood: The Aggressive and Confrontational Shop

Culture of US Auto Workers During World War II” Journal of Social History
2002 36(1): 125-147

Review Readings:
Charlotte Yates, From Plant to Politics: The Autoworkers Union in Postwar
Canada (Philadelphia, 1993)
John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers During the
Reuther years, 1935-1970 (Detroit, 2004)
Sam Gindin, The Canadian Auto Workers: The Birth and Transformation of a
Union (Toronto, 1995)
Review of Online Exhibition, “Some Assembly Required: A History of Auto
Work and Workers in Windsor”, http://209.202.75.197/digi/sar/default.asp
(See instructor for further instructions)

Week 5: October 8
Creating Consumerism: Selling and Advertising Cars

Discussion Readings:

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Pamela Laird, “’The Car Without a Single Weakness’: Early Automobile
Advertising” Technology and Culture 1996 37(4): 796-812

Laura L. Behling, “’The Woman at the Wheel’: Marketing Ideal Womanhood,

1915-1934” Journal of America Culture 1997 20 (3): 13-30

Sally Clarke, “Closing the Deal: GM’s Marketing Dilemma and its Franchised
Dealers, 1921-41” Business History 2003 45(1): 60-79

Richard Martin, “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s” Journal of American
Culture 1997 20(3): 51-66

Review Readings:
Stephen Bayley, Sex, Drink, and Fast Cars: The Creation and Consumption of
Images (Boston, 1986)
David Gartman, Auto Opium: A Social History of American Automobile Design
(New York, 1994)
Heon Stevenson, Selling the Dream: Advertising the American Automobile,
1930-1980 (1995)

Week 6: October 15
The Car and Gender

Discussion Readings:
D. Davis and B. Lorenzkowski, “A Platform for Gender Tensions: Working
Women and Riding on Canadian Urban Public Transit in the 1940s” Canadian
Historical Review, 79 (September 1998), 431-465

Kevin Boyle, “The Kiss: Racial and Gender Conflict in a 1950s Automobile
Factory” Journal of American History 1997 84(2): 496-523

Berry, Kimberley. “She’s No Lady: The Experience and Expression of Gender

Among Halifax Women Taxi Drivers Since World War II” Urban History
Review 1998 27 (1): 23-35

Christopher Dummitt, “A Crash Course in Manhood: Traffic Safety and the

Dilemma of Modern Manhood” from Dimitry Anastakis, ed. The Sixties:
Passion, Politics and Style (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University
Press, 2008), 71-98.

Review Readings:
Virginia Scharff, Taking the Wheel: Women and the Coming of the Motor Age
(Toronto, 1991)

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Pamela Sugiman, Labour's Dilemma: The Gender Politics of Auto Workers in
Canada, 1937-1979 (Toronto, 1994)

October 24: No Seminar, Fall Reading Week

Week 7: October 29
Auto Geniuses and Management Gods: Auto Industry Titans and
their Impact

Discussion Readings:
James Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge, MA, 1990), Chap. 5, 56-72
(Online, or on reserve)

John B Rae, “The Fabulous Billy Durant” Business History Review 1958 32(3):
255-271

Michael Schwartz, “Markets, Networks, and the Rise of Chrysler in Old

Detroit, 1920-1940” Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of
Business History 2000 1(1): 63-99

Daniel Raff, “Making Cars and Making Money in the Interwar Automobile
Industry: Economies of Scale and Scope and the Manufacturing Behind the
Marketing” Business History Review 1991 65(4): 721-753

Review Readings:
Heather Roberts, Driving Force: The McLaughlin Family and the Age of the
Car (Toronto, 1995)
David R. Farber, Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General
Motors (Chicago, 2002)
Steven Watts, The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century
(2005)
Richard Bak, Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire (New York,
2003)
Week 8: November 5
Subdivisions I: Pre-War Urban and Suburban Autoscapes

Discussion Readings:
Richard Harris, Creeping Conformity, How Canada Became Suburban, 1900-
1960 (Toronto, 2004) entire

Review Readings:
Lawrence Solomon, Toronto Sprawls: A History (Toronto, 2007)
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York, 1961)

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Week 9: November 12
Subdivisions II: Postwar Suburban, and Exurban Autoscapes

Discussion Readings:
Peter A. Stevens, “Cars and Cottages: The Automotive Transformation of
Ontario’s Summer Home Tradition” Ontario History 100 (Spring, 2008) 26-56.

John Van Nostrand, “The Queen Elizabeth Way: Public Utility Versus Public
Space” Urban History Review 1983 12 (2): 1-23

Steve Penfold, “’Are we to go Literally to the Hot Dogs?’ Parking Lots, Drive-
ins, and the Critique of Progress in Toronto’s Suburbs, 1965-1975” Urban
History Review 2004 33(1): 8-23

Danielle Robinson, “The Dundas and Ancaster Highway Disputes in Ontario,

1967-68,” Ontario History 100 (Spring, 2008), 55-79.

Review Readings:
Owen Gutfreund, Twentieth-Century Sprawl (New York, 2004)
Clay McShane, Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American
City (New York, 1994)
Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of America (New
York, 1987)

Week 10: November 19

The Environment and Safety

Discussion Readings:
Tom McCarthy, “The Coming Wonder? Foresight and Early Concerns about
the Automobile” Environmental History 2001 6(1): 46-74

Tom McCarthy, “Henry Ford, industrial ecologist or industrial conservationist?

Waste reduction and recycling at the Rouge.” Michigan Historical Review
2001 27(2): 52-88

Matthew Lee, “The Ford Pinto Case and the Development of Auto Safety
Regulations, 1893-1978,” Business and Economic History 1998 27 (2): 390-
401

Review Readings:
Ralph Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed (New York, 1972)
Joel Eastman, Styling vs. Safety: The Development of Automotive Safety,
1900-1966 (MD, 1984)
Jack Doyle, Taken For a Ride: Detroit’s Big Three and the Politics of Pollution
(New York, 2000)

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Week 11: November 26
Canada in the North American Auto Industry

Discussion Readings:
Robert Ankli and Fred Frederickson, “The Influence of American
Manufacturers on the Canadian Automobile Industry,” Business and
Economic History (1981), 101-113

Donald Davis, “Dependent Development: Canada and the Automobile in the

1930s,” Journal of Canadian Studies 21, 3 (Autumn 1986), 106-32

Dimitry Anastakis, “From Independence to Integration: The Corporate

Evolution of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, 1904-2004” Business
History Review 2004 78(2): 213-253

Review Readings:
Dimitry Anastakis, Auto Pact: Creating a Borderless North American Auto
Industry, 1960-1971 (Toronto, 2005)
David Roberts, In the Shadow of Detroit: Gordon M. McGregor, Ford of
Canada, and Motoropolis (Detroit, 2006)
Review of Website “The Automobile in American Life and Society”
(www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/) (See instructor for further instructions)

Week 12: December 3

The End of the Auto Age? Deindustrialization, The Chrysler Bailout,
and Oil Crisis

Discussion Readings:
Steven High, Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America’s Rust Belt,
1969-84 (Toronto, 2004) entire

Dimitry Anastakis, “Industrial Sunrise? The Chrysler Bailout, the State, and
the Reindustrialization of the Canadian Automotive Industry, 1975-1986”
Urban History Review 35 (Spring 2007) 37-50

Review Books:
Charles K. Hyde, Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler
Corporation (Detroit, 2003)
Ruth Milkman, Farewell to the Factory (California, 1997)

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Have a great Holiday Break! See you in January…

Weekly Schedule: Winter Term, 2009

Weeks 13-18: January 7, 14, 21, 28 and February 4, 11: Research

and Writing Period

During this period, students are expected to work on their research

papers/presentations independently.

Students are expected to meet at least once during this period individually
with their instructor to provide their individual verbal-written update on the
progress of their research and writing, and to discuss any problems they
might be having with the preparation of their paper/presentation.

While formal seminars will not be held, the Thursday session will instead be
devoted to films related to the course, “The Car in History: Movie Nights”.
While attendance is not required, students are strongly encouraged to
attend. They are welcome to invite friends, roommates, colleagues,
significant others, etc. Along with watching a movie, students will be
encouraged to exchange information and discuss their research and writing
programs.

The Car in History: Movie Nights Screening Schedule:

January 7 Final Offer
January 14 The End of Suburbia
January 21 Roger and Me
January 38 Tucker
February 4 TBD
February 11 Who K illed the Electric Car?
February 18 NO CLASS: Reading Week

OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT: As an optional assignment towards class

participation, students may write a 750-word movie review of one of the
films shown during the screenings.

Weeks 19- 24: February 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25 and April 1: Class
Presentations

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There will be approximately three presentations per class, depending on the
timing and length of presentations, and whatever other materials the
instructor may wish to introduce during this period.

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