The Automobile in American History and Culture:
A Reference Guide Book by Michael L. Berger; Greenwood Press, 2001

Preface - part 2
Finally, those books that had a very limited press run and/or have become scarce with the passage of time have generally been excluded. Where the author had reason to believe a book was not generally available, that specific volume has not been cited since it would be counterproductive to the purpose of this guide, which is to encourage and facilitate the work of the novice automotive historian. Despite these exclusions, the centrally important works for each topic (published through 1999) ought to be discussed herein. In addition, some works that do not meet the criteria described earlier also are included if they are generally considered to be "classics" in the field, if they have won a book award, if the stature of the author justifies it, or if they treat a significant topic regarding which there has been no or insufficient scholarly attention. As noted earlier, one of the purposes of this guide is to help remedy the last named situation.

Undoubtedly, a few works that some might consider significant have been omitted. No reference guide, no matter how extensive, could hope to cite and describe all of the books written about the automobile. To have continued to search for additional items to include would have been counterproductive for two reasons. First, the law of diminishing returns comes into play. Second and probably more importantly, with the continual appearance of new works, it is ultimately impossible to reach closure. (I have learned that lesson all too well over the past decade and a half.) Nonetheless, the author would welcome correspondence regarding possible additional entries and suggestions regarding the organizational structure of the guide for a possible supplement or second edition.

ORGANIZATION
The guide begins with a brief, introductory, historical overview of the history of the automobile in the United States. The main body of the work then consists of twelve chapters, eleven of which are devoted to a different aspect of the automobile's impact on American history and life. These chapters are further subdivided into a multiple number of sections, each of which is written to be a self-contained, bibliographic essay. In the twelfth chapter, the major reference books (as opposed to monographs) and periodicals in the field are organized and described. These chapters are followed by two appendixes: (1) a selected chronology of American automotive history events and (2) an essay describing the major automotive research collections in the United States. Despite efforts to create as logical a division of the material as possible, there is an unavoidable arbitrariness to the placement of some of the works. For instance, does an examination of books concerning car safety most properly belong in Chapter 4, as part of a discussion of automotive design and engineering, or in Chapter 11, as a socioeconomic problem involving the automobile? Why not include these books in the health section of Chapter 6? While some might argue for discussing the car safety books in all three chapters, the result would be a much longer, more redundant, and duplicative work, and thus ultimately a decision had to be made as to the most "appropriate" placement. In the author's opinion, it was in Chapter 11. For that reason, every attempt has been made to include chapter cross-references in the text whenever appropriate, and occasionally material appearing in one chapter is reprinted in another. Naturally, as with all books, the reader also is advised to consult the table of contents and the indexes, which will direct her or him to the relevant page(s). In this regard, two separate indexes have been provided: author and subject. Hopefully, the inclusion of the former index, one often omitted from reference works of this type, will prove to be especially useful for novices who may be familiar with the names of scholars in the field but not the titles of the works that they have authored.

LITERARY CONVENTIONS
A brief explanation needs to be given of the "literary conventions" employed in the following chapters. In general, for each topic, books devoted exclusively to the subject are described first, followed by book chapters found in more general anthologies. To conserve space, when there are more than two authors, only the first author is cited in the narrative followed by the designation et al. Similarly, when a work is written "with the assistance" of another person, usually only the primary author is noted in the text. In both cases, a more complete listing of authorship can be found in the chapter bibliography. Finally, an author's full middle name is given only when it is necessary to distinguish him or her from another individual, most commonly when it is the maiden name of a female author.
In most cases, the full title of the work is provided in the text. Not only does this clarify the nature of the contents, but it often avoids the necessity of further describing the work, except for an evaluative word or phrase, and thereby helped keep the length of the guide within manageable proportions. (The assumption here, of course, is that the reader will note and reflect on the title without further prompting.) Nonetheless, redundant subtitles are not included and lengthy archaic titles have been shortened in the narrative. The full title of such books, of course, appears in the chapter bibliography. As a general rule, the first edition of a book is cited unless substantial revisions were subsequently made. However, in those cases where a dissertation was later published as a book, the latter is named since, more often than not, it is a revised version of the former. Throughout the guide, reference is made to books that have been honored with awards from professional associations. Most of these works received either the Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) or the Thomas McKean Memorial Cup from the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA). Both awards recognize the best book in automotive history for a particular year. Occasionally, the honor will be cited in the narrative without reference to the association, the title of the award will be foreshortened, or, in the case of the McKean, it will be called an "award" rather than a "cup." (The McKean Cup is actually given now in the form of an engraved sterling-silver serving tray.