Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
Chargement... The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways (original 2011; édition 2011)par Earl Swift (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways par Earl Swift (2011)
Aucun Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I've always been curious about how our highway system came about. This book answered that question thoroughly. It's well worth reading. ( ) Although this book probably is the winner of the "took-the-longest-time-to-read" category, it's not because I was bored, but rather that life kept getting in the way. If you have an interest in how America developed the US highway or US interstate system, then this book is a must read. Earl Swift especially did a great job covering how US roads were at the beginning of the 20th century and the highway revolt movement of the 60-70's. I learned much I had never known. Swift does a good job throughout the book of presenting a balanced view of both the positives and the negatives of road improvements in the US. His criticism of Dwight D Eisenhower, while it could be accurate, was over the top at times and repeated too often. Overall, highly recommended! Greatly appreciated how deeply this book dove beyond the tired old history that Eisenhower was responsible for all the interstates. Learned a lot about some individuals I had never heard about - however, it spent a bit too much time focusing on people and things that didn’t really relate to the interstates themselves. Example being the last chapter which randomly mentions a possible alternative fuel than gasoline that was possibly invented in the 1910’s, or about Carl Fisher building the Indianapolis speedway. I understand laying the groundwork for what’s to come, but a more focused approach would have been preferred.
Swift has added texture and nuance, as well as narrative economy, to a story containing volumes, and he makes for an ideal travel companion — engaging, not too didactically chatty.
"A history of the planning, construction, and impact of the U.S. interstate highway system"--
A man-made wonder, a connective network, an economic force, a bringer of blight and sprawl and the possibility of escape--the U.S. interstate system transformed America. The Big Roads presents the surprising history of how we got from dirt tracks to expressways in the span of a single lifetime. From the turn-of-the-century car-racing entrepreneur who spurred the "Good Roads" movement, to the handful of driven engineers who conceived of the interstates and how they would work--years before President Eisenhower knew the plans existed--to the protests that erupted when the projects encountered people unwilling to be uprooted in the name of progress, Swift follows a winding route through the dreams, discoveries and protest that shaped these mighty roads, and shows how the interstates embody the wanderlust, grand scale, and conflicting notions of citizenship and progress that define America.--From publisher description. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)388.1Social sciences Commerce, Communications, Transportation Transportation RoadsClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |