Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. A New Market, 1896–1916: 1. Risks of innovation, risks of injury; 2. New firms and the problem of social costs; Part II. A Mass Market, 1916–41: 3. Corporate strategies and consumers' loyalty; 4. Engineering a mass product; 5. A machine age aesthetic; 6. The franchised car dealer and consumers' marketing dilemma; Part III. A Mature Market, 1945–65: 7. Automobiles and institutional change; Conclusion; Appendix: Automobile dealer agreements and sales manager contracts, 1900–14; Index.

Promotional Information

Trust and Power argues that automobile corporations have historically faced conflicts with the very customers whose loyalty they sought.

About the Author

Sally H. Clarke, Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, specializes in the political economy of the United States during the 20th century. Her interdisciplinary interests are reflected in articles in the Journal of Design History, Law and History Review, and Business History. She has been a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard University) and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies (Princeton University). She is the author of Regulation and the Revolution in United States Farm Productivity.

Reviews

"When the 20th century began, hardly anyone owned a car, and when it ended about nine of every ten American families had a car or two ... or three. In this richly textured economic, business, and social history, Sally Clarke tells us how that happened. Car makers marketed a captivating range of products, dealers intermediated between them and consumers, and the government helped out by expanding the availability of credit. Ride along with Clarke as she drives home her learned analysis of how America became a "car culture." -Richard Sylla, Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets, and Professor of Economics Stern School of Business New York University "In this insightful and well-researched book, Sally H. Clarke examines how conflicts between automakers and consumers shaped the automobile market in the United States from its inception through the mid-1960's." -Christopher W. Wells, Technology and Culture "[Trust and Power] offers novel insights into the dialogue between modern corporations and consumers by examining automobiles during the 20th century." -Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment