The Hummer is the civilian cousin of the US military's High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). Dubbed the Humvee, the HMMWV was introduced as a replacement for the Jeep in the early 1980s but became synonymous with American military muscle during the first Gulf war. After enquiries from those who saw it in television war coverage, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, the first civilian model was sold in 1992. Associated with poor handling and dreadful fuel consumption, sales were low through the 1990s, but following the events of 9/11 and the development of the war on terror, and the introduction of smaller H2 and H3 models in 2002 and 2005, sales have increased and this behemoth has became a more common sight on American roads.

Working on the assumption that we can learn about a culture by understanding the products it uses and consumes, the contributors to this genuinely thought-provoking collection analyse one of the most disturbing and fascinating products to have emerged from the United States in recent years. As Elaine Cardenas suggests, “Not for decades has an automobile captured the imagination of the American public as the Hummer has” (147). The authors represent a cross-section of different approaches within American cultural studies and while semiotics provides a backbone to the analysis, their essays adopt a broad range of methodological approaches that provide a variety of alternative readings of the Hummer.

Understandably, much focusses on what a vehicle that can be seen both on nightly news broadcasts from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on suburban streets means within contemporary American society. Several of the authors suggest that its popularity reflects an increasing militarization of society in the post-9/11 world, and that it represents a desire for impenetrability at a time of perceived global and national insecurity, terror and threat. Others connect its rise to the trend towards gated communities or to neo-fascist tendencies within American society, while others link it to notions of gender, race, patriotism and morality. Questions related to the authenticity of a civilian automobile designed to look like a military vehicle are addressed in an analysis of Hummer advertising, which is elsewhere connected to post-9/11 angst and concerns about the rise of the EU, while an analysis of a website that allows those who dislike the vehicle to vent their anger asks what it tells us about the current state of public debate. Though most contributors explore the significance of the Hummer today, the vehicle is also examined in its historical context of Reagan-era Cold War politics and increased military spending, and in comparison with its predecessor, the Jeep.

If at times accounts of the Hummer's development become repetitive across the essays, this is an interesting book that explores the connection between products, culture and politics. It provides an innovative view of recent American culture, and is an important addition to the growing body of work on consumer products and consumption.