Interesting Book to Consider

cpwalter · 2016-03-03T21:05:14.000Z

I stumbled upon an interesting book about the automobile that you may find interesting as well. It is called, Car Country by Christopher W. Wells. In the book, Wells seeks to introduce readers to the transformation wrought upon the national landscape of the U.S. to make it fit for Americans and their cars. He tells the story not just of Ford and his Model T, but of highway engineers, street designers, real estate developers, policy- makers, and all the other people and professions who created the automobile infrastructures that became second nature to Americans during the 20th century. Almost nothing escapes Well's eye: the gravel and asphalt, with which highways are paved, the layout of streets designed for the different speeds traveling through neighborhoods, the road signs and other navigational devices, the retail institutions and their parking concerns, these and many other items are covered. This book explores so many different aspects of our automobile-dependent culture like: the design of cars, the paving of streets, the engineering of highways, the refining of gasoline, the taxing of fuel sales at the pump, the laying out of subdivisions, the marketing of real estate, the zoning of cities, the building of parking lots, the lobbying of legislatures, and on and on. And Well's does it all in a very engaging storyteller way that makes this book informative and a good read. If you like cars, as I am sure you do, I think you will find this book to your liking Car Country, An Environmental History, by Christopher W. Wells. I got mine from Amazon. ENJOY!

Mar 3, 2016 (edited)623 views

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