An examination of how the automobile has ravaged America's cities and landscape in the 20th century together with a strategy for reversing America's automobile dependency.

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.