An examination of how the automobile has ravaged America's cities and landscape since the end of the 19th century together with a strategy for reversing their automobile dependency. The text provides a history of the rapid spread of the automobile and documents the huge subsidies commanded by the highway lobby, to the detriment of once-efficient forms of mass transportation. Demonstrating that there are economic, political, architectural and personal solutions to the problem, it shows that radical change is entirely possible.;The book should be of value to everyone interested in the history of America's relationship with the car, and in the prospect of returning to a world of human mobility.