Republic of drivers

Republic of drivers: a cultural history of automobility in America.
Seiler, Cotten
2008
Chicago, University of Chicago Press.  230 p.
Resumen: 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 company in America to the creation of the Interstate Highway System to find out how driving envolved 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 conceptions of the self and the social and political order. He finds that as the figure of the driver blurred into the figure of the citizen, automobility became a powerful resource for women, African Americans, and others seeking entry into the public sphere. And yet, he argues, the individualist but anonymous act of driving has also monopolized our thinking about freedom and democracy, discouraging the crafting of a more sustainable way of life. As our fantasies of the open road turn into fears of a looming energy crisis, Seiler shows us just how we ended up a republic of drivers and where we might be headed.
Tabla de contenidos
Número de pedido en Biblioteca FAU