Author Carla Lesh joins Mark Perzel to discuss her book, "Wheels of Her Own: American Women and the Automobile, 1893–1929," uncovering how the early automobile became a powerful tool for liberation and social justice. Explore the stories of women—including Black and Indigenous drivers—who navigated prejudice and broken-down roads to claim their independence. Check out this inspiring look at the bold pioneers who used the driver’s seat to challenge the status quo.
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FEATURED TITLE: Wheels of Her Own: American Women and the Automobile, 1893–1929. McFarland, softcover (2024) ISBN: 9781476672779 mcfarlandbooks.com/product/wheels-of-her-own
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Women used automobiles as soon as they had access to them. Black, Indigenous, and White American women utilized the automobile to improve their quality of life and achieve greater freedom. These women shared unique concerns and common aims as they negotiated their way through a time when advocacy for social change was undergoing a resurgence. The years that brought the automobile to the United States, 1893-1929, also brought increased legal and social restrictions based on racism and gender stereotypes. For women the automobile was a useful tool as they worked to improve their quality of life. The automobile provided a means for Black, Indigenous, and White women to pull away from limitations and work toward greater freedom. Exploring these key issues and more, this book is a history and social exploration of women and the automobile during the early automotive era.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Carla Lesh is an independent historian and archivist living in the Hudson Valley of New York. She received her PhD in transportation history and her MA in public history from the University at Albany and her BA in history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. carlalesh.weebly.com
OTHER BOOKS BY CARLA LESH
Grist for the Mill: A Novel of the Civil War in Northwest Arkansas. BookBaby, eBook (2024) ISBN: 9798350965841 store.bookbaby.com/book/grist-for-the-mill
"Albany, New York, Plot (1793)” entry in Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellions. Greenwood Publishing Group, (2007) ISBN: 978-0313332715 www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Slave-Resistance-Rebellion-volumes/dp/0313332711
“Project Row Houses,” Exhibit Review, The Public Historian, Fall 2003
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