A book that I recently acquired for the purposes of sharing it in the Biographies of Things book box.

This book is now in the Biographies of Things book box and on its way to Florida.

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Made a short stop at my house for Biographies of Things book box. It will stay in the box.

This book made a short stop in Colorado before continuing on in the Biography of Things bookbox (still traveling in honor of maryzee

This book returned home without having attracted any readers. It is going to go with me to Westminster tomorrow for the meet-up in honor of MaryZee's birthday.

Taking this book to meet-up. If no one takes it home, it will go out on the shelves of the OBCZ that MaryZee established.

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

This came home with me from today's BC-in-DC meeting. I think I might actually try to read this.

I wasn't sure that a book about the history of a badly built car would be something I would enjoy, but I'm really glad I gave it a try. While this book is the story of the Yugo, that story covers a LOT of ground, and I found myself learning far more about the inner workings of the imported automobile business in America and the recent history of Yugoslavia and the countries that arose from its ashes than I had any reason to expect.

First, let's be clear about the title. While the Yugo is certainly remembered in our cultural memory as the "worst car in history", the author goes to some length in the early part of the book to suggest that the Yugo was far from the worst car ever built, or even the worst car ever sold in America. A reasonable case can be made that it was an "okay" car, especially given its cost, but that's not how we remember it. Through an unfortunately set of circumstances, the Yugo arrived on the American market at almost the worst possible moment for a car of its type. In the 1980s, cars were symbols of prestige, and few wanted a car that was specifically marketed as a economical budget saver. This was also a period with increasing demand for safety and reliability in our cars, and the Yugo was simply behind the times.

That the Yugo was even sold in America was largely because of the vision of Malcolm Bricklin, and his story encompasses a large portion of this book. Without a doubt Bricklin was a man of big ideas. Unfortunately, he seemed to believe these ideas would somehow become reality without a great deal of effort or attention on his part, and it seems that he loved to live large, long before his dreams could provide sustainable means for him to do so. It seems difficult to say whether he is merely a delusional dreamer, or a huckster who sold dreams to others to pay for his own pleasures. Either way, without him, the Yugo would never have made it to American shores.

In spite of the bad publicity and even in spite of Bricklin and his erratic management style, Yugo might have survived in the US, except for the political collapse of Yugoslavia. In the end, the break-up of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed were the ultimate cause of the Yugo's demise.

While clearly of interest to those who find automotive history interesting, this book would also be of interest to anyone interested in the cultural, financial, or political history of the 1980s. This book places the Yugo in a historical context full of interesting and enlightening details, and is an excellent read.

Available at today's BC-in-DC meeting.

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I picked this book from a pile of books at the June BCinDC meet-up. I remember the short lived Yugo.

LOL! I was going to bring this book to the July BCinDC meet-up to give to "6of8" for the Biography of Things book box. As I was going to journal this book, I found that "6" was the original registrant. I will release it into the wild instead.

Released at the BCinDC July meet-up.

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