Customer Reviews

Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives

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I particularly enjoyed this book's layout of our American car culture - from the dreaminess of the 16 year old with their first keys, through the marketing process as buyer and seller, and ultimately, why the car culture has it's challenges, it was an entertaining read. I do admit, however, that it's very one sided - it's largely anti-car, as can be expected from the title, but not violently or disruptively so.

Particularly challenging for me were two chapters - one outlining how difficult it is for the working poor with very little money to have a car, and the challenges that come with being carless in a world built for automobiles, and the other chapter outlining the damage that cars do to lives and property in "accidents." Cars may be safer now than 30 years ago, but since we drive them more, and are more careless while doing so, driving a car remains the most risky thing most of us do any day.

In all, a very well reasoned and well put forward argument about moving from the auto-centered (and auto-required) culture into something a little more beneficial to all of society. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a well-researched and thoughtful examination of a an aspect of our lives that we, as a society, have embraced. The authors allow us to take a close look at the multi-faceted effects that cars have on our lives, both individually and collectively. Engaging, entertaining and intelligent.

Since before I obtained a driver's license, let alone owned a car, I dreaded the idea of driving. It might have just been my personality - or had I realized the crazy-danger of automobile travel even if nothing articulated that thought as well as the book CARJACKED: THE CULTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE & ITS EFFECT ON OUR LIVES, does? As a boy I was a passenger when accidents happened once with my mother driving and twice with my brother behind the wheel, though none caused injury. An even narrower escape came one time my father was driving, when an out-of-control car sped across the street, missing us by maybe five feet, crashing into a storefront. And I can remember that by time I started driving, three children who attended my school died in car wrecks and the families of three other kids I knew lost their parents to automobile accidents. All of that may have been in the back of my mind when I decided cars had no appeal to me, as I did not desire luxury or sports autos and certainly hated the limits of holding a steering wheel when I could have been on a train or bus, reading.

It took a long time but I've finally become a mass transit commuter, my only daily drive to and from the train station. I read CARJACKED over several train trips and if nothing else encourage readers to pick it up just for the book's ninth chapter, titled "Full Metal Jacket: The Body Count," which confirms everything about driving that made me wish cars were not a necessity for most Americans:

-Thank God for all the lives Ralph Nader saved promoting seat belts and air bags, but nonetheless CARJACKED reports 112 Americans still die every day in auto accidents. In the name of the so-called war on terror, people allow the government to shred the Bill of Rights and spend billions but don't seem to notice their own 4 wheel death-mobiles are the leading cause of lost lives for people under the age of 34.

-Since 1899, car accidents have caused 3.4 million American deaths, more than all U.S. wars combined. "Give peace a chance," we say, but we must say, "Give mass transportation a chance," even louder.

-Pedestrians in America are three times likelier to be killed by cars than pedestrians in Germany and six times likelier than in the Netherlands, as the latter two nations have better automobile regulations and more mass transportation.

There's a lot more. Read CARJACKED.

I'll see you on the train.

As a suburban working mom who logs hundreds of miles every week in her car, I was dreading the guilt I thought this book would bring. Its lively, upbeat, creative style and tone and paradigm shifts energized me instead, so I'm thinking every day about how I can escape being carjacked. Why not walk to the grocery store -- getting some sun and exercise while driving down the miles logged? Why not think about probable length of drivability when buying a new car? Why not carpool a day a week? Why not, longterm, consider a move to a job/home/lifestyle that allows me even more freedom -- freedom from my car and all its liabilities? Carjacked's mix of data, anecdotal snapshots and straight talk entertained and inspired. I loved this book.

For those of us who take getting into a car, turning the key in the ignition, and driving off as a simple fact of life, Carjacked asks the reader to pause for a moment to think seriously about the role of automobiles in our lives. The result is an intelligent and highly readable examination of all that results from a culture so reflexively connected to driving, but not necessarily to all of its varied and real costs. The book effortlessly weaves anthropological analysis with cultural criticism, and concludes not just with an argument for increased access to public transportation but also with a sensible and highly practical appeal for personal reflection on the real price of depending on cars to shape the direction of our lives. I loved this book, not just because it is so smartly argued and such a pleasurable read, but because it challenged me--to reconsider a simple, eveyday act, and from that reconsideration to come to a better understanding of my world--and my car.

This book is a must-read for anybody who drives a car. It's a sobering look at the impact the automobile has had on the quality of our life, and offers ways for us to reclaim that quality.

After reading this book, I'm glad I live in a city where I don't need a car. It's really amazing to see the big picture and to see just how harmful automobiles are to our wellbeing and to the earth. The book allows you to see, on a large scale, the effects of cars on our lives -- effects we don't even realize -- and the power of car companies to influence us. There was clearly a lot of research done to put this together, and I love that it offers suggestions at the end so that we can start reducing our dependence on cars. The book is very interesting and well-written and I think everyone should read it.. because everyone who is a driver or who knows one is affected.

Catherine Lutz and her sister Anne Lutz Fernandez issue a strong wakeup call to the average American motorist through their book, Carjacked. The two women thoroughly explain our nation's fascination with the car, and how we have grown to accept it as a member of the family. Lutz and Fernandez initially discuss the highlights of the car: taking family vacations, "singing to Springsteen at the top of our lungs," having meaningful conversations, and "like many Americans, [having] youthful sex in the backseats." Cars are the mode of transportation that take us to school every morning, take us to work, take our friends to dinner, take our dates to the school dance, and the car is also the form of transportation that will take us to our weddings. The car has a huge impact on our lives, and is far more than just a mode of transportation. While the sisters highlight the benefits of the car, the majority of the book describes our addiction and the negative effect the car has on our lives.
The sisters start their book with many of the great perks of the car. However, the bulk of the book describes the shortfalls of the car, and the effect it has on our lives. The sisters discuss the immense amount of time that we spend in traffic, the colossal oil prices, and what auto loans have done to this economy.
While the car proves to be an exciting part of everyone's life, there is a down side to this love affair. The purpose to the second part of the book is to illustrate the addiction that Americans have with the car. Over the past one hundred years, Americans have gotten used to the freedom the car provides, which is the hardest thing to give up. The idea of not being able to get in the car and drive is a constricting thought to some. Americans have come accustomed to the idea of freedom "since the Model T, Americans have used or at least aspired to use the car to get away and explore less [populated] places." It is so hard for Americans to break the habit of driving with the weight of $3 a gallon gas, low credit, increasing MSRP, and insurance premiums and taxes. While we view the car as an escape from the stresses of everyday life, "our dreams of cars and our real lives with cars are constructed with the help of a series of powerful myths and values that warrant a closer look."
That being said, this book makes me sad because I do not want the car we know to die out, because it makes me happy every time I climb behind the wheel. In the 40's and 50's the car was a simple item that carried a family from place to place. The idea of dad climbing behind the enormous wheel of an old Cadillac and driving down a country lane just for the purpose of a drive is nostalgic. As one reader suggests "I think that you can almost analogize [the car] to the Wild West. I sort of think of it as the modern equivalent of the wagon going to the West again to get away, to explore new things, to have, you know, ultimate mobility." You don't see this any more. In today's society everyone is concerned about their careers, the credit crunch, the price of petrol, and all other expenses of the car. These financial burdens further take away from the overall happiness of the car. Now the image of the car is in ruins. People hate the idea of driving to work in bumper to bumper traffic while inhaling the toxic exhaust fumes; it's tragic. Carjacked, in a way, ruins the image of the car.
That being said, Carjacked is a slap in the face to gear heads like me. Americans need to realize that there is not an infinite supply of oil on this earth, and that we will eventually run out. Secondly, Americans need to realize that they should not buy more car than they can afford. Buying a $45,000 Cadillac doesn't make sense for everybody. When people take on loans, and they cannot afford the payments, it puts more stress on their finances and further ruins the image of the car, because it is then viewed as an immense liability upon their shoulders. Six years ago a person with a 575 credit score could get a loan for just about anything, and when the past due payments came, they were in a horrible situation. This overspending is what drove this economy into the tank, and froze all lending. The car takes much of the credit, while not as much as mortgages, for the credit crisis of 2008. According to the Providence Journal, it is as if the purpose of the second half of the book is "to strip away the romantic fancies fed by memories, folklore and advertisers, and face the reality of the best way to get from A to B. Such a reality check up, they argue, could result in a more rational approach to driving with people using cars less and walking or bicycling or taking buses or trains more.". This further ruins the reputation of the car, taking even more of its beauty. In short, the image of the car is in tatters, and to me that is heart breaking.
I find it hard to recommend the work of Catherine Lutz and her sister Anne Lutz Fernandez because they issue a harsh awakening, which I find very hard to accept as a car lover. The style of writing almost makes Americans feel bad for every mile of driving that we do. The car will never be what it once was. The supply of oil will continue to dwindle, loans will be harder to find, pollution will continue on an exponential level and no one will understand the point of the Sunday drive.

This book challenges our assumptions about our relationship with cars. I was surprised by how high the "real" costs of buying and owning a car are, and how much our car culture is costing the country. Very informative and well-written.

Carjacked contains many points that are worth discussing pertinent to the role of the automobile in American culture. That Americans overextending themselves in debt to buy cars outside their means is a problem there can be no doubt. That they pay a lot in "unseen" insurance, tax, repair, and environmental costs, again, granted. However, the book is supported by almost entirely by anecdotal evidence and broad statistics coupled with provocative statements such as "put our beloved children in the thing most likely to kill them" (pg. 11). The flip-side--as can be found with most statistical evidence--is that of course cars are most likely to "kill" our children because of the statistically high amount of time we spend in them and the number of them on the road there are. If we all rode trains, they might not kill as many people yearly as cars, but they or something else would replace cars as "the thing most likely to kill." This is the way statistics work.

Additionally, it is woefully inadequate to analyze the enormous social problems Carjacked tackles in a context of whether or not the automobile caused them. Likely, Lutz and Fernandez do not claim to establish concrete causation, but they come dangerously close to lying America's debt crisis, racial profiling, unethical insurance practices, economic inequity, and even misinformed voters at the feet (or perhaps tires) of the automobile (pgs. 78, 84-86, 92, 112-114, 149-151). These are problems that in many cases predated the automobile, and in all cases were borne of a complex interaction of elements such as economic recession and unemployment that simply cannot all have been caused by driving too many cars too many miles. After all, the tendency to go too far into debt has been demonstrated by Americans on everything from houses to appliances to entertainment centers. Logic would then suggest the car as simply one more manifestation of a wider cultural phenomenon than a root cause.

Worst of all though is the book's nearly complete denial of human agency. It depicts Americans as so brainwashed by malicious corporate interests (as if car companies are the only ones who engage in emotionally targeted advertising) and emotional attachment to cars that they are incapable of making rational decisions. The book furthermore undercuts rather than engages debate by writing off skeptics as members of the brainwashed masses rendered "trapped and impotent" by the car (pgs. 39, 42, 44-49). Lutz and Fernandez also commit multiple lapses in logic, for example admonishing--sometimes in the same breath--people to "downsize" by trading in their truck or large sedan for a smaller vehicle but also not to trade in their older vehicle because that causes more manufacturing (pgs. 64, 211-212). Lastly, the book demonstrates inadequate technical knowledge of the automotive industry to support some of its claims. It castigates larger vehicles as being no safer for occupants while being more dangerous to other motorists, yet a quick perusal of the NHTSA ratings system reveals that cars are, indeed, rated in classes of similar weight and size. Thus, a 4-star compact is not equal to a 4-star large sedan. The authors also lambast American cars for poor economy due to a horsepower and size "race" between manufacturers with no mention that a main predicator of weight increase and power strain has been increasing crash and emissions standards--which are inarguably a good thing (pgs. xii, 3-7, 24). These kinds of oversights would be forgivable in the op-ed page in the local newspaper, but in a book--something readers will look to as an authority--greater responsibility for complete facts must be taken.

Ultimately, Lutz and Fernandez are not seeking to test their hypotheses, but are seeking merely to bolster them. Carjacked then is overall a thought-provoking book but read skeptically and critically; don't make it your go-to source.