THE MINIVAN YEARS gives moms inspiration and practical advice for infusing meaning and joy into their busy days.

In the early 1970s, Chrysler started working on a "magic wagon" -- a completely new passenger van that would fit into a normal garage. It was a daring project for a company that was strapped for cash. This book taps the people who created the minivans, with previously unpublished photos of the original clay models. It is not just a story of a vehicle, but of the people who pushed it through the development process, brought it to life, and refreshed it in the face of intense competition. Engineers, planners, and designers started arguing over alternatives ten years before the first van left the factory. This book dives into the reasons behind their decisions, and some of the ways minivans could have been very different; it also covers electric and CNG minivans, engines and transmissions, concept cars, and the assembly plants. The paperback is generously illustrated with full-color design studies and photos of the final product; the Kindle version has fewer photos, but still covers the original clay models and the concepts. "It's incredibly rare when the auto industry creates an entirely new class of vehicle, and rarer still when that innovation is an unqualified success story, but such was the case with Chrysler and the development of the minivan. "In Mopar Minivans, Zatz uses the people who were there to retell in vivid detail the largely forgotten story of how this innovative people mover evolved into a quintessential piece of American family life for two generations. It's a story that showcases not only how the automotive industry can work at its best, but also the ways that the industry's prevalent groupthink mentality can stifle innovation." -- Larry Vellequette, Automotive News "I am amazed how complete you are, having not been on-site in the front trenches during agreements, disagreements, and, yes, even skirmishes, at times." -- Chrysler employee David Zatz founded Chrysler-focused web site allpar.com; he also holds a Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology from Columbia University, and has been a business consultant for 20 years.

This book tells fascinating tales, bringing individual days to life with short stories, photographs and illustrations. From the first self-powered vehicles to modern advances in technology, many topics are covered surrounding the turbulent history of the automobile. The births and deaths of automotive innovators, the rise and fall of car companies lost to history, incredible days at the racetrack, relevant inventions, the introduction of some of the greatest cars ever built, and many more true events from around the world are described in their day in This Day in Automotive History.

“Howerton writes unflinchingly about what it means to be raising children in today’s world and how to liberate ourselves from the myth of perfect motherhood.”—Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed and Love Warrior, founder of Together Rising In this smart and subversively funny memoir, Kristen Howerton navigates the emotional and sometimes messy waters of motherhood and challenges the idea that there’s a “right” way to raise kids. Recounting her successes, trials, mishaps, and hard-won wisdom, this mother of four advocates for letting go of the expectations, the guilt, and the endless race to be the perfect parent to the perfect child in the perfect family. This book is for ● the parent who loves their kids like crazy but feels like parenting is making them crazy, too ● the parent who said “I will never . . .” and now they have ● the parent who looks like they have it all together but feels like a hot mess on the inside ● the parent who looks like a hot mess on the outside, too ● the parent who asks Am I good enough? Doing enough? Doing it right? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with these children? Are they eighteen yet? With her signature blend of vulnerability, sarcasm, and insight, Howerton shares her unexpected journey from infertility to adoption to pregnancy to divorce to dealing with the shock and awe of raising teens. As a mom of a multiracial family and as a marriage and family therapist, she tackles the thorny issues parents face today, like hard conversations about racism, disciplining other people’s kids, the reality of Dad Privilege, and (never) attaining that elusive work/life balance. Rage Against the Minivan is a permission slip to let it go and allow yourself to be a “good enough” parent, focused on raising happy, kind, loving humans.

In 1989, prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam, Alison Krupnick was holed up in a seedy Ho Chi Minh City hotel, hiding from people desperate for visas to resettle in the U.S. Fifteen years later, she was holed up alone in her minivan, furiously scribbling stories on a notepad at every red traffic light. The story of Alison's transformation from world traveling diplomat to minivan-driving mom is chronicled in Ruminations from the Minivan: Musings from a World Grown Large, then Small. A warm and funny story of inspiration and ambition, international intrigue, mothers and daughters, food, family, writing and travel, Ruminations from the Minivan will take you on the trip of a lifetime.

The first comprehensive history of the Chrysler Corporation, this book is intended for readers interested in the history of automobiles and of American business, and for fans and critics of Chrysler’s products. From the Chrysler Six of 1924 to the front-wheel-drive vehicles of the 70s and 80s to the minivan, Chrysler boasts an impressive list of technological "firsts." But even though the company has catered well to a variety of consumers, it has come to the brink of financial ruin more than once in its seventy-five-year history. How Chrysler has achieved monumental success and then managed colossal failure and sharp recovery is explained in Riding the Roller Coaster, a lively, unprecedented look at a major force in the American automobile industry since 1925. Charles Hyde tells the intriguing story behind Chrysler-its products, people, and performance over time-with particular focus on the company's management. He offers a lens through which the reader can view the U.S. auto industry from the perspective of the smallest of the automakers who, along with Ford and General Motors, make up the "Big Three." The book covers Walter P. Chrysler's life and automotive career before 1925, when he founded the Chrysler Corporation, to 1998, when it merged with Daimler-Benz. Chrysler made a late entrance into the industry in 1925 when it emerged from Chalmers and Maxwell, and further grew when it absorbed Dodge Brothers and American Motors Corporation. The author traces this journey, explaining the company's leadership in automotive engineering, its styling successes and failures, its changing management, and its activities from auto racing to defense production to real estate. Throughout, the colorful personalities of its leaders-including Chrysler himself and Lee Iacocca-emerge as strong forces in the company's development, imparting a risk-taking mentality that gave the company its verve.

Dan Zevin, master of "Seinfeld-ian nothingness" (Time), is trying his best to make the transition from couplehood to familyhood. Acclimating to the adult-oriented lifestyle has never been his strong suit, and this slice-of-midlife story chronicles the whole hilarious journey--from instituting date night to joining Costco; from touring Disneyland to recovering from knee surgery; from losing ambition to gaining perspective. Where it's all heading is anyone's guess, but, for Dan, suburbia's calling--and his minivan has GPS. -- Jacket, p. [2].

In 2003, as the newly named editor in chief of Us Weekly magazine, Janice Min was busy documenting a seismic cultural shift: the making of the "Hollywood Mom." Think Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Halle Berry, and Beyoncé—stars who proudly displayed their pregnancies, shed the baby weight overnight, and helped turn the once-frumpy bump industry into seriously big business. In the blink of an eye, it seemed, "skinny jeans" had replaced "mom jeans." Bugaboos had become status symbols. Motherhood itself had become an exciting style statement. And then—just eight weeks after her big promotion—Janice discovered that she was pregnant, too. "I started ogling, with morbid fascination, the photographs that flooded my office—red-carpet and paparazzi shots of celebrities in bikinis and bandage dresses mere weeks after giving birth," she writes. "I'd stare at my own ever-expanding body. Then I'd stare at Heidi Klum (who gave birth one month before my due date and managed to bounce back before I'd even hit the delivery room). How did these women do it? I wondered." How to Look Hot in a Minivan was born. With her trademark self-deprecating style and tongue-in-cheek humor, Janice set out to debunk some of Hollywood's biggest mommy myths. Then she brought together the industry's biggest experts in fitness, fashion, beauty, and all-things-baby to divulge the secrets behind the stars' seemingly effortless postpartum style. Serving up practical, honest, and often surprising advice for new moms everywhere, Janice and her arsenal of experts reveal: • The 10 Wardrobe Essentials every chic mom should own • How to style red carpet-worthy hair, even on school days • The secrets to hiding a postnatal stomach pooch • The truth behind the C-tuck (Do celebrity moms sometimes slim down courtesy of a combination cesarean section-tummy tuck?) • Hollywood's Biggest Losers (What did it really take for stars like Kate Hudson, Milla Jovovich, and Poppy Montgomery to lose the baby weight?) In How to Look Hot in a Minivan, Min dispels the idea that looking great post-pregnancy is only for the rich, the pampered, and the lucky. With Min's guilt-free, stay-sane strategies, moms everywhere can look and feel like stars—whether their baby is six months or sixteen years.

A narrative like no other: a cultural history that explores how cars have both propelled and reflected the American experience— from the Model T to the Prius. From the assembly lines of Henry Ford to the open roads of Route 66, from the lore of Jack Kerouac to the sex appeal of the Hot Rod, America’s history is a vehicular history—an idea brought brilliantly to life in this major work by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Paul Ingrassia. Ingrassia offers a wondrous epic in fifteen automobiles, including the Corvette, the Beetle, and the Chevy Corvair, as well as the personalities and tales behind them: Robert McNamara’s unlikely role in Lee Iacocca’s Mustang, John Z. DeLorean’s Pontiac GTO , Henry Ford’s Model T, as well as Honda’s Accord, the BMW 3 Series, and the Jeep, among others. Through these cars and these characters, Ingrassia shows how the car has expressed the particularly American tension between the lure of freedom and the obligations of utility. He also takes us through the rise of American manufacturing, the suburbanization of the country, the birth of the hippie and the yuppie, the emancipation of women, and many more fateful episodes and eras, including the car’s unintended consequences: trial lawyers, energy crises, and urban sprawl. Narrative history of the highest caliber, Engines of Change is an entirely edifying new way to look at the American story.

Wise-cracking former investigative reporter and aspiring screenwriter Aaron Tucker agrees to help wealthy New Jersey businessman Gary Beckwirth find his missing wife, Madlyn. A mysterious mini van, a mayoral election and murder keep our hero hopping when he'd prefer to be stay-at-home dad.