A brief history of gasoline

Lies about climate change are only part of the environmental history problem posed by the way that the oil and auto industries told their  stories in books, museum or bus caravans (like the one above.)  A full ‘warts and all’ history is still only barely known.  Jamie Kitman, automotive writer and attorney, created this series  for Jalopnik Magazine.

• Part I:  A Brief History of Gasoline: A century and a half of lies  In which the author describes youthful misconceptions about gasoline of the leaded and unleaded variety.
• Part II: A Brief History Of Gasoline: They Trashed Pennsylvania First — The long and oily road, or everything you need to know you can learn from Pennsylvania
• Part III: How gasoline got into our lives describes the early history of Standard Oil Co.
• Part IV: How Standard Oil built its toxic monopoly Standard gave the government every piece of evidence on how corporations lie, cheat, and poison the country.
• Part V: How Standard Oil got away with it  We bust the trust here, we sue Exxon there, yet the money keeps raking in, and the pollution keeps seeping out.
• Part VI: Better things through deader living: How does a company grow so callous, so numb to and invested in death that it puts lead in gasoline?
• Part VII: The Original Sin of General Motors GM was not dreamed up like other car companies. It wanted monopoly.
• Part VIII: Searching for the magic bullet: Leaded gasoline and General Motors.

Smarmy public relations characterizes the auto industry’s cringe-worthy pseudo-history from a traveling exhibit in 1941. This is the version of automotive history you probably saw in grade school. There’s quite a contrast with Kitman’s Brief History of Gasoline (linked above).  

Our American Crossroads was an exhibit originally created for General Motors’ traveling Parade of Progress in 1941. The exhibit features an animated diorama that depicts life in small town America before and after the introduction of the automobile. After GM retired it from the Parade of Progress, it was installed at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry until 2001.