Automania

Automania by Juliet Kinchin is a visually spectacular exploration of the automobile as cultural object — the car not merely as transportation but as symbol, status marker, design object, and site of collective fantasy. Published in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition on the subject, the book draws on MoMA’s collection to examine how car culture has shaped and been shaped by twentieth-century design, advertising, film, and popular imagination. From streamlined 1930s dreamcars to the muscle cars of the 1960s to concept vehicles imagining future mobility, Kinchin traces the complex relationship between industrial design, consumer desire, and the open road. Published with extensive colour illustration, this is essential reading for design enthusiasts, car lovers, and anyone interested in how objects acquire cultural meaning far beyond their practical function.