Car country, an environmental history, Christopher W. Wells ; foreword by William Cronon
Type
Classification
1
Contributor
1
Creator
1
Genre
1
Subject
14
- Urban transportation
- Automobiles + Social aspects
- History
- Urban transportation -- United States -- History
- Automobiles + Environmental aspects -- United States -- History
- City planning -- United States -- History
- Land use
- Automobiles + Social aspects -- United States -- History
- United States
- Transportation, Automotive -- United States -- History
- Land use -- United States -- History
- City planning
- Automobiles + Environmental aspects
- Transportation, Automotive
Content
1
Author
1
resource.authorofintroductionetc
1
Is part of
1
Mapped to
1
Label
Car country, an environmental history, Christopher W. Wells ; foreword by William Cronon
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-412) and index
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
Car country
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
875520732
Responsibility statement
Christopher W. Wells ; foreword by William Cronon
Series statement
Weyerhaeuser environmental books
Sub title
an environmental history
Summary
For most people in the United States, going almost anywhere begins with reaching for the car keys. This is true, Christopher Wells argues, because the United States is Car Country-a nation dominated by landscapes that are difficult, inconvenient, and often even unsafe to navigate by those who are not sitting behind the wheel of a car. The prevalence of car-dependent landscapes seems perfectly natural to us today, but it is, in fact, a relatively new historical development. In Car Country, Wells rejects the idea that the nation's automotive status quo can be explained as a simple byproduct of an ardent love affair with the automobile. Instead, he takes readers on a lively tour of the evolving American landscape, charting the ways that new transportation policies and land-use practices have combined to reshape nearly every element of the built environment around the easy movement of automobiles. From the dawn of the motor age to the establishment of the Interstate Highway System and the rise of the suburbs, Wells untangles the complicated relationships between automobiles and the environment, allowing readers to see the everyday world in a completely new way. The result is a history that is essential for understanding American transportation and land-use issues today
Table of contents
Part I: Before the automobile, 1880 -1905 -- Roads and reformers -- Part II: Dawn of the motor age, 1895 -1919 -- Automotive pioneers -- Building for traffic -- Part III: Creating car country, 1919 -1941 -- Motor-age geography -- Fueling the boom -- The paths out of town -- Part IV: New patterns, new standards, new landscapes, 1940 -1960 -- Suburban nation -- Epilogue: Reaching for the car keys
Incoming Resources
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