Car Country: An Environmental History (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) - Softcover

Wells, Christopher W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295994290 ISBN 13: 9780295994291

Publisher: University of Washington Press, 2014

Synopsis

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

About this title

About the Author

Christopher W. Wells is an associate professor of environmental history at Macalester College and author of Car Country: An Environmental History (University of Washington Press, 2012).

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295994290
• ISBN 13: 9780295994291
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464