Stealing Cars: Technology & Society from the Model T to the Gran Torino [Book Reviews]

If you ever come across someone trying to sell a foolproof antitheft system or an unstealable car, you ought to call him a liar or at least direct him to read John Heitmann and Rebecca Morales´s recent book on auto theft. The authors have assembled an effective and concise historical survey of automobile theft in the America. The book proceeds chronologically, from the beginnings of automobility to the significance of the Grand Theft Auto videogame franchise. It also contains more topically-based chapters on novel areas such as countermeasures in the built environment and a study of international auto theft across the southern United States border. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate how this form of mobile criminality is both perennial and resistant to social, political, and technological efforts to stop it. From the perspective of a historian of technology, the book´s strongest contribution is its ability to demonstrate the fallibility of socio-technical solutions to large societal problems. More generally, auto theft is such a multifaceted topic that most readers will find something that sparks their interest. Stealing Cars does not remain fixed on one element of the story, but instead covers the criminals, victims, business, and government institutions, as well as the technologies marshaled both by those who tried to prevent theft, and those who attempted to steal.