The Van Pelt and Opie Library would like to invite campus and community guests for an evening of storytelling, Q&A, and a book signing with Professor Emeritus Dr. Larry Lankton. He will be sharing his newest book, Motor City Boomer: The Car Culture That Defined a Generation. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Learn more about Dr. Lankton and his recent book project in his own words: After receiving a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania I took a job as a curator of power and shop machinery at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI, Then I moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as an historian of engineering with the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a part of the National Park Service. While at HAER I ran a project to document the history of the Quincy Mining Company in Upper Michigan. I found the history of Michigan copper to be so interesting, and so rich in archival records, that in 1981 I took a faculty position at Michigan Technological University in nearby Houghton. I taught there from 1981 to 2012. Before retiring and becoming an Emeritus Professor of History, I wrote four books about the Copper Country’s mines, technologies, communities and people. But I had not published any books about the automobile, even though I taught a class at Michigan Tech, “The Automobile in America,” for thirty years that enrolled 3,000 to 4,000 students.
That had to change. Nearing retirement, I set a goal to finally write my “car book.”
It would be a cultural history, covering the Fifties and the Sixties, that would lay out the auto’s impact on the nation. At the same time, it would be a highly personal memoir. It would be an “auto biography,” recounting my life growing up with cars. Taking trips to relatives in Indiana and Illinois. Listening to "Maybellene” and “GTO” on the car radio. Taking your first love out to neck in remote locations. Cruising Vermilion Street in Danville, Illinois. Driving a muscle car and drag racing Chevelle Super Sports and Oldsmobile 442s. Rolling a car over, wheels to wheels. Driving the Prom Queen and her court around the track at Danville High’s football stadium.
That book is finally done and has been published by Wayne State University Press. I think you will be edified and entertained by MOTOR CITY BOOMER: THE CAR CULTURE THAT DEFINED A GENERATION. Expect to learn a lot, laugh a lot, and cry three or four times.
CostFree (not guaranteed - please verify)
Who May Attend
VisibilityAny member — anyone on qMEET can find and join
Where to sign upCheck the link(s) below for details, times and updates — and contact whoever is running it there if you need to.
events.mtu.edu Created
Last updated