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 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 tour of the
evolving American landscape, charting the ways that transportation
policies and land-use practices have combined to reshape nearly every
element of the built environment around the easy movement of
automobiles. 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.
Watch the book trailer: http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=48LTKOxxrXQ