About the Author

Phil Patton is the author of Dreamland: Travels inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51, among other books. He writes regularly for the New York Times, has taught at the Columbia School of Journalism, and served as commentator for CBS News, The History Channel, and several public television series.

Reviews

"A peppy, perspicacious history of the Volkswagen...with brio and dash, Patton charts the long strange trip of the little bug that became a grand cultural totem."

"Kirkus Reviews" A peppy, perspicacious cultural history of the Volkswagen...With brio and dash, Patton (Dreamland, 1998, etc.) charts the long strange trip of the little bug that became a grand cultural totem.

"A peppy, perspicacious history of the Volkswagen...with brio and dash, Patton charts the long strange trip of the little bug that became a grand cultural totem."
"Kirkus Reviews" A peppy, perspicacious cultural history of the Volkswagen...With brio and dash, Patton (Dreamland, 1998, etc.) charts the long strange trip of the little bug that became a grand cultural totem.

It became an iconic shape on the roads, with quirky advertising that won many awards. It was a huge success, and then it was gone. Now the Volkswagen Beetle is back, and this new book attempts to place it in the context of a changing historical landscape. Unfortunately, by trying to combine history, social commentary, design analysis, and political intrigue in one package, Patton (Dreamland) fails to do any of them well. This is a shame because the Beetle was a car that always made people happy. There are mistakes in the book that will make car enthusiasts cringe. For example, the Karmann Ghia sports derivative was introduced in 1955, not 1957. The Taurus didn't save Ford in 1985 when it was introduced; it took several years for that to happen. The Mazda Miata was introduced in 1989, not 1983. The introduction of the Rabbit GTI had nothing to do with VW's Fahrvergnugen advertising campaign. Taken alone, none of these mistakes looms large, but together they are emblematic of a tendency to merge design eras and to condense events of different decades. While much of the history here is accurate, many other books have more depth, e.g., Walter Henry Nelson's Small Wonder, and numerous titles accompanied the new Beetle's 1998 release. An optional purchase.-Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence, RI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.