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Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle, by Andrea Hiott
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Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world.
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Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile.
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Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon.
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Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.
- Sales Rank: #556555 in Books
- Published on: 2012-01-17
- Released on: 2012-01-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.54" h x 1.16" w x 5.74" l, 1.35 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 512 pages
Review
"The well-researched story of an iconic car...Hiott's debut is an assured, enthusiastic account...The author goes beyond the cars themselves, exploring why the Beetles of the 1960s and '70s--certainly not the sexiest or most impressive automobiles--became hip...if you're a fan of�fahrvergn�gen, this is essential stuff."-Kirkus Review
"[Hiott] presents the history of the whimsical German automobile, unveiling an intricate saga that spans nearly 90 years and includes some of the most monumental shifts in politics, economics, and creativity in the past century...a surprisingly substantial and far-reaching chronicle of 'a car that belongs to the world.'" Publishers Weekly
"Hiott set out to find out how this modest car became a symbol of two antithetical ideas of utopia, one animated by racial hatred, the other by unconditional love...The story of its creators and champions is... an 'amalgamation of the larger shifts taking place in the world...'"-Michael Washburn,�San�Francisco�Chronicle
"...rich and rewarding in its historical detail..." Brett Berk,�Bloomberg Businessweek"...diligently researched...breezy...Such was the car's universal appeal that if it were invented today it would likely be called the iBug." - Wall Street Journal
"Hiott's account should appeal to history buffs, car enthusiasts and readers who delight in a fascinating story." -- Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press
Advance praise for Thinking Small
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“I am definitely the kind of person who very much appreciates the difficulty and value of looking at something everyone is familiar with in a fresh, new way. Candidly, at first I had very little interest in this book because I am so familiar with the VW/Porsche story. But to my delight, as I looked through it I found a fascinating new perspective on the events. Also many untold stories, such as the beginnings of Doyle Dane Bernbach, the greatest advertising agency of all time. My congratulations to Ms. Hiott for a marvelous piece of work.”—Jerry Seinfeld, comedian
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“Thinking Small is a delight—the improbable, wonderfully told tale of the Volkswagen Beetle, from its early days as Adolf Hitler’s dream car to the beloved symbol of freedom and fun for millions of Americans.� With her impeccable research and deep understanding of German and U.S. history and culture, Andrea Hiott does a superb job of bringing to life both the snub-nosed little car and the large cast of colorful characters who designed it, then made it one of the most coveted consumer objects in the world.”—Lynne Olson, author of Citizens of London
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“From Hitler’s Germany to Woodstock, selling matzos to selling cars, and urban architecture to automotive design, in Thinking Small, Andrea Hiott takes readers on a wise and crafty ride over a wide and twisting narrative terrain. It’s a journey that is deeply compelling, thought-provoking, and, not least, great fun.”—Howard Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Floor of Heaven and American Lightning
From the Inside Flap
Sometimes�achieving�big things requires the�ability�to think strange.
From the Back Cover
Jerry Seinfeld, Lynne Olslon, Howard Blum
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Reads Like a Novel
By VReviews
My first car was an old '71 Bug. I always refer to the VW Beetle as a bug because as a kid Disney's original Love Bug was such a fun iconic movie, and that name stuck. I again owned a VW Beetle in the 2000's when the new Beetle hit America and caused a stir once again. So I naturally gravitated to Andrea Hiott's exploration of all things Beetle. Knowing the dark genesis of the VW Beetle; but experiencing the fun, positive reincarnation of the Bug in America, I wanted to know how that metamorphosis transpired. Really it's got to be one of the most successful product repackaging or re-imaging stories in commercial history.
Hiott's outstanding treatise answers the metamorphosis question tenfold. Her command of the English language is so satisfying. From the thought-provoking quotes at the beginning of each major section, to the photos, and historical tidbits; this book is enjoyable to read. The book is long; but doesn't bore because it's written as a novel with excellent plotting. She delves into the lives of the principal players (Porsche, Hitler, Heinrich, Bernbach) starting in childhood; which provides insight into the motivation of these driven men. Hiott's background and experience lends itself well as she provides cultural and societal details that ground the history to the events on a relatable level.
Hiott's analysis really develops the VW Beetle as transcending the mechanical car, and posits the idea that the Beetle is really a metaphor for what society needs or wants in any given time. Well reasoned, researched, and written.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A trifle unpolished--but engaging nonetheless
By Jonathan A. Turner
This is a good book that could have been better. It's structurally a little awkward, and in some places it could use more attention to detail. On the other hand, it's a clear and interesting tale of the Bug's long and improbable genesis, complete with an eccentric automotive genius, a mad dictator, and a creative renegade ad-man.
Andrea Hiott makes the interesting choice to eschew technical detail almost entirely. The engineering of the VW Beetle is touched on, but only as it impacts the lives of her protagonists. The people, more than the car, are the focus of _Thinking Small_. It's a biography of a vehicle composed of the biographies of the men (not women) who were its parents and godparents.
That's not a bad decision. Some readers will appreciate it more than others; I'm an engineer, and would happily have absorbed more engineering. Many other readers may find the focus on character to be a welcome relief. It helps, too, that the cast is a relatively small one--and that so many of them are larger than life. One of Hiott's strengths is to bring those characters to vivid life.
All the same, there's something oddly lopsided about her casting, and in consequence about the book itself. The first half of the book contains a ton of biography about Adolf Hitler, for example. Hitler is certainly relevant, and his fascination with cars is an important and lesser known facet of the story; but the narrative of (e.g.) his days "wandering Vienna's streets," or of his treason trial, is less clearly important. I understand why Hitler's there, but these and such-like digressions are why the book takes half of its length getting to the end of World War II, at which time the number of production VWs in the world was approximately zero.
Similarly, the book opens with a mention of the very first Beetle shipped to the U.S., in 1949, and then drops the matter for a couple of hundred pages. Advertising guru Bill Bernbach is introduced right at the start of chapter one, then gradually drops out of the story. If the introduction made it clear that those first Beetles *utterly failed to sell*, Bernbach's presence would work better (as foreshadowing) than it does sans that context.
_Thinking Small_ is also marred by numerous minor infelicities of pacing, fact, or phrasing. Hiott refers to an American "Colonel Oberst", but "Oberst" is merely the German for "Colonel." "Languages from all over Europe" include "Mexican" (twice), "Cuban", and "South African". Heinrich Nordhoff is alternately referred to by first and last name. Sometimes one scene is followed by another one that, it turns out, took place some years earlier. There are some awkward and not very relevant pop-culture references. Trains took "weeks" to cross North America ... and so on. I read a pre-release copy; I hope that some of these will be ironed out in the final proofs.
In the end, however, I'm giving the book four stars. The editing problems are irksome, but not ultimately substantive. Hiott's writing is easy and fluid, like what you'd read in a good literate magazine. She does a fine job with her characters, and touches strongly on some of the larger social and economic contrasts and contradictions of the Volkswagen's story. (Compare the propaganda that fueled Hitler's rise and the ground-breaking advertising that fueled the Bug's, for example.) Most importantly, she's got good subject matter. I wouldn't necessarily push _Thinking Small_ on anyone who isn't already interested, but it's a pretty good read for anyone who is.
32 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
The VWs aren't the only "bugs" in this book!
By P. Eisenman
Let's start with the good. THINKING SMALL does contain an interesting look at the history of the Volkswagen Beetle from its origination to the present day in the context of the vehicle as viewed from a sociological standpoint. As an additional positive, it contains more than a passing look at the U.S. advertising campaign for the Beetle which not only pushed the VW to the forefront of imports, but also revolutionized the advertising world.
Unfortunately, the book is marred with a wide variety of problems. I am a voracious reader of both automotive and military history. I've filled 5 bookcases full of auto history books, ranging from coffee table volumes, to detailed histories of companies and personalities, to technical service manuals--and I've read them all. As I started on THINK SMALL, it quickly became apparent, that while author Hiott had a great deal of passion for her subject, she also had little or no prior knowledge of automotive (or military) history--a shortcoming that opened the door for all sorts of troubles. I rarely take notes while reading, but I'd filled several pages by midway through this book.
So, in no order of egregiousness, here's what troubled me about THINK SMALL:
1) Lack of knowledge of automotive history. Author cites air-cooled auto engines being a "new" thing in the early 1930s, Tatra being the "first" to try it. In fact, FRANKLIN had been producing successful air-cooled automobiles since 1902, selling thousands (peak yearly sales near 11,000 in 1929) before succombing to the evaporation of the luxury class market in 1932!
Author believes Nash to have been located in Detroit--while company had offices there, facilities were located in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
2) Lack of knowledge about European history, WWI, WWII and German history. A few examples: Mistatements about events surrounding the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand--attributing attacks to "the first car bomb" (attempting to toss a handgrenade into a car does not a car bomb make!--the Archduke deflected it with his arm, and it exploded BEHIND the car), then stating he was shot later that night, when in fact he was shot in the late morning and both he and his wife were dead by 11AM. Author says World War I destroyed TWO empires, presumably meaning the German and Austro-Hungarian, while not noticing the destruction of the Ottoman and Russian empires (making a total of FOUR). I'll chalk up thinking the German Empire started under Wilhelm II to a typo (should be Wilhelm I). Author seemed confused about who was running Austria-Hungary, saying his Imperial Majesty was "Archduke Franz Ferdinand" instead of Emperor Franz Josef.
Additionally, author states that France surrendered in 1940 because the Italians invaded southern France! I'd suggest the author should read The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940 by William L. Shirer. Author Hiott also would have done herself (and her readers) a favor by reading, in its entirety, William Shirer's definitive The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany before even venturing into any aspect of what exactly happened in regards to Hitler and the rise of the Nazis. Checking the bibliography, author Hiott appears not to have even used it as a reference in any form.
3) Lots of "common knowledge truths" repeated as if they actually were true. Any decent investigation into Hoover's course of action from 1929-32 lays bare the myth (which is accepted as truth) that Hoover sat on his hands and did "nothing" to help the economy. For a look at a president who actually did NOTHING, one should alternately investigate Harding/Coolidge and the recession of 1920-21 and compare the results in terms of the economic recovery which did (or did not) result.
4) The book wanders off on tangents and pages go by with nary a mention of anything about VW. It's chock full of supposition and opinions masquerading as facts. Hypothetical conversations presented with "possible" imagined quotations. Lots of irrelevant sentimentalities and boatloads of psychological, economic and political postulating straying to all sorts of contradictory ends. Veers off into, and proclaims, the virtues of the theories of Adam Smith and free markets, then veers off and proclaims the virtues of Keynsian economic theory and then wanders off again into the value of Marxist economic theory. The only thing I gleaned from all the contrary economic theories presented (none of them apparently bad) was that the author has NO concrete belief in ANY economic theory, but rather leans in the direction of whatever idea last entered her thought process.
5) The tone of the work is one of the reader being even more clueless than the author. Rather like a kindergarten teacher who, when talking to other adults, speaks to them as if they were 5 year olds. Yes, some of us actually KNOW what a "C pillar" is! Anybody's who even somewhat into automobiles and their history is probably going to feel that the book is "dumbed down".
I could go on, but you get the idea.
On the other hand, there IS SOME WORTHWHILE CONTENT. If this book were re-edited and boiled down to its essence, you'd be left with a coherent and informative history of the VW. As is, though, you need to go through it with a fine tooth comb in order to weed out all the inaccuracies, opinions, and plain irrelevant sections.
If you're looking for a top-calibre history of Volkswagen, I'd recommend passing on this book. If you're curious about the old adage, "write what you know" and discovering why enthusiasm for a subject alone does not a good book make, then you might want to take a look. Or, if you're not too fussy about facts, but like the idea of assessing automotive history in regards to a larger sociological perspective, then you'd probably actually like this book.
In the end, I'll give TWO STARS to THINK SMALL. The writing style is entertaining and there is almost enough worthwhile information here to balance out the very severe shortcomings. If it were simply a matter of wandering, opining and irrelevancies, I'd probably rate it THREE STARS. But, in any work of history, FACTS are the most important thing and the sheer volume of innacuracies precludes rating it any higher than TWO. It could be MUCH better with some heavy editing and corrections. My original idea of a title for this review was, "A one-car wreck on the automotive history highway." After finishing the book, I would venture to say, "it's not a total loss. Have it towed and with some extensive repairs, it might just be roadworthy." If that were to happen, I'd be willing to re-read and re-evaluate my rating. There is something good in THINK SMALL, it just needs a major overhaul.
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