Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.50 (946 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0226745643 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-01-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A very smart and interesting way to look at drivers, and cars, in America E E Faris The Republic of Drivers threads together things you know, and things you have wondered about, in a credible and insightful book about what driving means to us. As I read I kept finding a larger and interesting context for understanding our driving way of life. We all see how getting a driver's license at 16 is the absolute center of one's world, and how giving up a driving license in old age is terribly difficult. What's behind the importance of driving?Seiler's common sense and scholarship make this a book you can trust. He tells us what happened as cars began to be for everyone, and how the choice to fund highway development through unive. Richard A. Fidler said Why we love our cars. "Republic of Drivers", while intended for an academic audience, can be enjoyed by all. It is about how the automobile has touched our lives and how driving underscores basic values we Americans hold concerning independence, freedom, gender, race, and class. Fundamentally a book of history, it tells the story of how the automobile rose to occupy a place of importance not just as a means of transportation, but also as a means of expressing ourselves. If you wish to understand why Americans rejected railroad travel in favor of the automobile, this book can provide the answer. The inflexible schedule of trains, the impersonality, the inordinate. Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America If you like dry history then this is a book you will likely enjoy. The reviews on the back cover are glowing in their praise of the contents but I found that the author made it more confusing than it needed to be. You have to pick it apart to find the meaning and reasons for the growth of the automobile culture that is not only prevalent in America but also in most of the western world. The same reasons for its ride in America can also be found in Great Britain, Germany, France, etc.I bought the book in the hopes of using it to explain to my Chinese students the causes of and the rise of Western Automobile Culture. Much of what the author w
Republic of Drivers is brilliant, nuanced, and astonishing—the cross-disciplinary scope of this book is close to incredible. “This is history of the best sort. Despite the extraordinary reach of his research and thinking, Seiler wears his learning lightly and is sure to reach a wide audience.”
Rising gas prices, sprawl and congestion, global warming, even obesity—driving is a factor in many of the most contentious issues of our time. So how did we get here? How did automobile use become so vital to the identity of Americans? Republic of Drivers looks back at the period between 1895 and 1961—from the founding of the first automobile factory in America to the creation of the Interstate Highway System—to find out how driving evolved into a crucial symbol of freedom and agency. Cotten Seiler combs through a vast number of historical, social scientific, philosophical, and literary sources to illustrate the importance of driving to modern American