Car Country: An Environmental History
| AUTHOR | Wells, Christopher W.; Cronon, William |
| PUBLISHER | University of Washington Press (08/01/2014) |
| PRODUCT TYPE | Paperback (Paperback) |
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
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
Christopher is a graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, earning his BS in science education and biology and an MS in computer education with an emphasis on instructional technology. He is currently a PhD student at Walden University s College of Management and Technology in leadership and organizational change. Christopher is still actively involved in several organizations that involve youth and the natural world, including a youth retreat movement for middle school students and a sea turtle research project run on Wassaw Island, Georgia.