"Trucking Country" is a social history of long-haul trucking
that explores the contentious politics of free-market capitalism in
post-World War II America. Shane Hamilton paints an eye-opening
portrait of the rural highways of the American heartland, and in
doing so explains why working-class populist voters are drawn to
conservative politicians who seemingly don't represent their
financial interests.
Hamilton challenges the popular notion of "red state"
conservatism as a devil's bargain between culturally conservative
rural workers and economically conservative demagogues in the
Republican Party. The roots of rural conservatism, Hamilton
demonstrates, took hold long before the culture wars and
free-market fanaticism of the 1990s. As Hamilton shows, truckers
helped build an economic order that brought low-priced consumer
goods to a greater number of Americans. They piloted the big rigs
that linked America's factory farms and agribusiness food
processors to suburban supermarkets across the country.
"Trucking Country" is the gripping account of truckers whose
support of post-New Deal free enterprise was so virulent that it
sparked violent highway blockades in the 1970s. It's the story of
"bandit" drivers who inspired country songwriters and Hollywood
filmmakers to celebrate the "last American cowboy," and of ordinary
blue-collar workers who helped make possible the deregulatory
policies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and set the stage for
Wal-Mart to become America's most powerful corporation in today's
low-price, low-wage economy.
General
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Politics and Society in Modern America |
Release date: |
February 2014 |
First published: |
2008 |
Authors: |
Shane Hamilton
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 20mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
328 |
Edition: |
New In Paper |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-691-16092-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-691-16092-9 |
Barcode: |
9780691160924 |
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