From the April, 2015 issue of the American Historical Review
JOHN A. HEITMANN and REBECCA H. MORALES. Stealing
Cars: Technology and Society from the Model T
to the Gran Torino. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2014. Pp. ix, 216. $29.95.
According to
2013 insurance statistics, thieves steal a car
every 33 seconds in the United States. As John A. Heitmann and Rebecca
H. Morales write, although
car theft has existed “at the margins of American
life,” it is and
was, nevertheless, “far from inconsequential” (p. 1). They prove this broad claim by surveying the reasons and methods for stealing
cars
and the technological, so- cial, and institutional responses to the crime. A long history of stealing cars has resulted in myriad anti-theft technologies, powerful federal laws to ameliorate the criminal activity that
thrived by crossing state and in- ternational borders, and a trend toward more sophisticated, professional criminals who in the twentieth century set
up global networks to trade in stolen vehi- cles.
Historians have mostly overlooked theft as an
impor- tant part of Americans’
relationship with the automo- bile. But
as Heitmann and Morales
rightly argue, we can learn much about technology, law enforcement, and
the role of insurance
companies, by examining the changing contours of auto theft. Their work is part of a
growing body of scholarship that examines how users changed the
design and meanings
of the automobile from the bottom up. However,
here, users applied their ingenuity to
illegal activities, from the fairly harmless act of joyriding,
or stealing cars for pleasure,
to more serious offensives. The authors ask: “Who steals cars, and
why?” (p. 1). How did government and industry respond to the crime in an escalating
battle to thwart a growing network of criminal activity?
Heitmann and Morales mine their source material,
which ranges from statistics and
patent records to interviews
and a range of popular literature, film, and digital games to under- stand the complex back-and-forth between criminals, technology, authority, and the wider culture.
Their most significant claim is
that automobility changed
and increased the scale of unlawful activity beginning with the
mass production and adoption
of the car. The automobile became a prime target for thieves and con- veniently provided its own means of escape. Although, some saw the
opportunity to enjoy a free ride or make money stripping parts or selling stolen cars, thus rob- bing car owners not only of an expensive
durable good but also their own automobility, Heitmann and Morales conclude that
American culture, as seen through films, songs, novels, and
video games, has often glorified
car thieves rather than condemning
them.
The
authors survey the landscape of auto theft in six chronological chapters, a brief conclusion, and a useful collection of historical statistics.
Taken
together the chapters chart the trajectory of criminal
activity from the 1910s to the present. The book is organized into periods, beginning with the 1910s to the 1940s; continuing into the postwar period to about 1980, when auto theft rose so rapidly that
there was an unprecedented response; and ending with the 1990s to the present. Chapter 5
examines the history of cross-border activity between Mexico and the U.S. providing an in-depth case study of the globalization of automobile theft that should give historians much to consider.
Throughout the book we learn that average people and
often skilled users participated in the process of stealing, stripping, masking, and
trading in stolen cars. Chauffeurs, mechanics, assembly-line workers, small business owners, and
a couple of generations of male teenagers all took part in stealing cars. Notably, car owners, through the 1960s, were often culpable as well; some reported their cars as stolen to get the insurance money, many more simply left the keys in the ignition or under the floor mat. Whatever the cause, we learn that this crime shaped the institutions and the larger landscape that
governed the use and value of cars, including the
insurance industry. Insurance companies led the way in developing
new communications systems and
technologies to protect and recover
their invest- ments. Additionally, law enforcement, especially
at the federal level, grew. Because the stolen goods crossed state and international borders, auto theft became a federal crime and the authors trace the legislation and developments in policing from the
Dyer Act (1919) to the
growth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). They also explore efforts
to outwit ingenious
criminals through an array of devices from early ignition locks to General
Motors OnStar surveillance system. In the last chapters, Heitmann
and Morales suggest that
there has been a definable
shift in the nature of the car
theft, from youth-centered impulsiveness to an organized and
global crime. Although
global trade in stolen cars existed as early as the interwar period,
the scale increased
dramatically in the late twentieth century. The chapter
on Mexico and the U.S. provides
a more careful look at this phenomenon and suggests that borderlands foster crime. Beginning
with the Mexican
Revolution (1910–1920), she provides an intriguing
case study of how automotive theft became entangled in a more complex
web of illegal activities including drug trafficking. As the
authors conclude, “Crossing
borders was, and
remains, the car thief’s best strategy” (p. 158). The authors’
attention to the variety
of people and technologies involved in stealing
cars
and the evolution of the
practice into a global business
make their study worth reading. Some small criticisms: The latter half of the book felt somewhat disjointed. The later chapters would have benefited from more historical
context, especially with regard to the political and economic
land- scape of the
1970s and 1980s. How did the energy crisis figure into criminal
activity or its representation in film? But
overall, Heitmann
and Morales have added
to a better and broader understanding of both crime and the
automobile in American
life and have pointed to other fruitful avenues for
exploration.
KATHLEEN FRANZ
American University
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