"Anyone who has ever driven on a U.S. interstate highway or eaten
at an exit-ramp McDonald's will come away from this book with a
better understanding of what makes modern America what it is." -
Chicago Tribune "A fascinating work... with a subject central to
contemporary life but to which few, if any, have devoted so much
thoughtful analysis and good humor." - Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Divided Highways is the best and most important book yet published
about how asphalt and concrete have changed the United States.
Quite simply, the Interstate Highway System is the longest and
largest engineered structure in the history of the world, and it
has enormously influenced every aspect of American life. Tom Lewis
is an engaging prose stylist with a gift for the telling anecdote
and appropriate example."-Kenneth T. Jackson, Harvard Design
Magazine "Lewis provides a comprehensive and balanced examination
of America's century-long infatuation with the automobile and the
insatiable demands for more and better road systems. He has written
a sprightly and richly documented book on a vital subject."-Richard
O. Davies, Journal of American History "Lewis describes in a
convincing, lively, and well-documented narrative the evolution of
America's roadway system from one of the world's worst road
networks to its best."-John Pucher, Journal of the American
Planning Association "This brightly written history of the U.S.
federal highway program is like the annual report of a successful
company that has had grim second thoughts. The first half recounts
progress made, while the second suggests that the good news is not
quite what it seems."-Publishers Weekly "Lewis is a very talented
and engaging writer, and the tale he tells-the vision for the
Interstates, Congressional battles, construction, and the impact of
new highways on American life-is important to understanding the
shape of the contemporary American landscape."-David Schuyler,
Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor of the Humanities and
American Studies at Franklin & Marshall College, author of
Sanctified Landscape: Writers, Artists, and the Hudson River
Valley, 1820-1909 In Divided Highways, Tom Lewis offers an
encompassing account of highway development in the United States.
In the early twentieth century Congress created the Bureau of
Public Roads to improve roads and the lives of rural Americans. The
Bureau was the forerunner of the Interstate Highway System of 1956,
which promoted a technocratic approach to modern road building
sometimes at the expense of individual lives, regional
characteristics, and the landscape. With thoughtful analysis and
engaging prose Lewis charts the development of the Interstate
system, including the demographic and economic pressures that
influenced its planning and construction and the disputes that
pitted individuals and local communities against engineers and
federal administrators. This is a story of America's hopes for its
future life and the realities of its present condition. Originally
published in 1997, this book is an engaging history of the people
and policies that profoundly transformed the American landscape-and
the daily lives of Americans. In this updated edition of Divided
Highways, Lewis brings his story of the Interstate system up to
date, concluding with Boston's troubled and yet triumphant Big Dig
project, the growing antipathy for big federal infrastructure
projects, and the uncertain economics of highway projects both
present and future.
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