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Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile
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Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile Paperback - 2004

by Phil Patton


From the publisher

"Herbie." "Punchbuggy." "Beetle." The world's most recognizable automobile goes by many noms de plume. But did you know that the "Love Bug" was originally conceived as Hitler's "car of the people," or that it was the Manson "family"'s car of choice?Tapping into Americans' continuing obsession with the VW Bug, Phil Patton has written a kaleidoscopic history of the car from the 1950s to the 2000s. He describes the genius marketing strategy used in America to rid the car of its Fascist associations (VW hired a Jewish marketing team), and explains why designers are obsessed with its shape (the Bug, like the Pantheon, fits the Greek "golden ellipse" ideal of dimension). Patton posits that the Bug was the first car to cause Americans to "wrap themselves in a brand as an extension of their ideology," and turn up their noses at the huge, showy cars produced in Detroit. Amazingly, it worked, and, based on the Beetle's continuing status as an American cultural icon, it still does. As Jonathan Yardley asserted in the Washington Post Book Review "The original Bug was more than a car, it was an experience."

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Details

  • Title Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile
  • Author Phil Patton
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st printing
  • Pages 254
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Da Capo Press, Cambridge
  • Date June 2004
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780306813597 / 0306813599
  • Weight 0.8 lbs (0.36 kg)
  • Dimensions 9 x 6.54 x 0.73 in (22.86 x 16.61 x 1.85 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Volkswagen Beetle automobile
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2004050027
  • Dewey Decimal Code 629.222

About the author

Phil Patton 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.
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Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile
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Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile

by Patton, P

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Bug: The Strange Mutations Of The World's Most Famous Automobile
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Bug: The Strange Mutations Of The World's Most Famous Automobile

by Phil Patton

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Bug. The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile
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Bug. The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile

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Bug : The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile
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Bug : The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile

by Patton, Phil

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Bug : The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile

by Patton, Phil

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Bug: The Strange Mutations Of The World's Most Famous Automobile

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Bug: The Strange Mutations Of The World's Most Famous Automobile

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