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Title: Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took over America, and How We Can Take It Back by Jane Holtz Kay ISBN: 0-520-21620-2 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Deep and persuasive recounting of the car culture
Comment: I had heard of this book and heard the author but didn't realize how compelling and well-written the actual story would be, not only in delivering insights on the way we have become car-dependent but in portraying the root of so many of our environmental and urban ills. Not just a diatribe, this book offers a broad and literary tale of our massive shift to automobility. Both more eloquent and factual than similar books (e.g. "The Geography of Nowhere" and "Fastfood Nation") it is a a good read and influenced my outlook on current events from global warming to farm and forest destruction to being just plain stuck in traffic. I heartily recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Thought provoking, saddening, yet optomistic
Comment: Asphalt Nation is wasted on any reader who would dismiss it as another disgruntled environmentalist diatribe. Aside from the obvious environmental issues of pollution and the consumption of natural resources described by the author, the more compelling sections of the book relate to the social costs of automobile dependency. Among these are the destruction of some of the nation's finest architecture in cities such as Boston and Detroit to make way for highwayws,roads and parking lots, the second class status assigned to public transportation, particularly railroads and subways which serve to break automobile dependency, and the lack of suitable space for pedestrians and bicyclists in cities and towns designed to accomodate the automobile and further dependency. The point is well made that the Amish reject the automobile not because the internal combustion engine is intrinsically evil, but that the automobile serves to break social ties and alienate fellow human beings - all one need do is to observe the typical American suburb to see this prophecy fulfilled. What we are left with in the end are "uglified" cities, congested roadways, lack of accessability for those who choose not to drive, and "carchitecture" (to steal a term from the book), that undifferentiated, generic, plastic looking architecture built along roadways, and also in residential subdivisions which serve the automobile. How many "environmental" issues have I mentioned? These are societal ills. The wanton destruction of our architectural heritage, the dumbing down of our aesthetic appreciation, the lack of societal ties, are the results of decades of poor social policy and the influence of the automobile industry's powerful lobby upon it. We are a nation that needs to preserve and protect our social and cultural heritage and identity.
Rating: 5
Summary: A worthy thesis, well presented
Comment: I've noticed how much design caters to car traffic for some time now. Not only are bus systems left behind in plans, but it is also difficult to walk anywhere these days. I'm not crazy about her ideas like raising gas prices, or anything that raises the misery factor for low income people struggling to keep their jalopy running (like harsh smog test requirements) but the idea of making alternative transportation easier and more attractive is good.
There could have been a little more attention to using the already in place car infrastructure for alternative fuel vehicles. But that doesn't take away from the basic idea behind the book.
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Title: Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck ISBN: 0865476063 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Geography Of Nowhere: The Rise And Declineof America'S Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler ISBN: 0671888250 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 067974195X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: How Cities Work : Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken by Alex Marshall ISBN: 0292752407 Publisher: University of Texas Press Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Divorce Your Car! : Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile by Katharine T. Alvord, Katie Alvord ISBN: 0865714088 Publisher: New Society Publishers Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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