The Alliance of Art and Industry : Toledo Designs for a Modern America

An exploration of the impact of the industrial designer on America.

It uses Toledo, Ohio, as a paradigm of the profound shift within the corporate and social structure from manufacturing based solely on engineering to production involving design and marketing.

Also explored is the role of the Toledo Museum of Art in this evolution and the role of professional design in shaping consumer products and mass taste in America.

Essays and case studies by scholars and cultural historians are accompanied by illustrations ranging from icons of American culture to less familiar but important examples of industrial design.

Subjects include the evolution of the jeep into the modern SUV; Libbey Glass; the Toledo Scale Company; and Norman Bel Geddes as strategic planner for the "City of the Future".