From the first automobile show in Madison Square Garden in 1900 when the horseless carriage was a toy for the idle rich to the automatic car no on the drawing boards, "Wheels for a Nation" traces the course of America's sensational love affair with the motor car. Frank Donovan shows how the automobile nosed its way into American life, how it developed into our dominant form of transportation, and how it changed and is changing our lives socially and culturally, physically and economically. Wheels for a Nation begins in the Gay Nineties, when the new-fangled vehicles were speeding along at 20 m.p.h. It rounds the turn of the century, when cars were handmade, expensive, and the subject of controversy in legislatures and the press. It details the evolution of engines, braking and suspension systems, tires, electric starters, design, and modern mechanical features, and analyzes the growth of the industry which now employs on seventh of America's wage earners.
