Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life

By Tom Lewis

Book Overview

What do Levittown, the 1939 World's Fair, and the Model T have in common? To what invention can the existence of suburban sprawl, toll booths, mall shopping, an oil-obsessed foreign policy, fast food, and air and noise pollution be attributed?The interstate highway. This landmark enterprise of the 1950s literally changed the face of America for eternity. In 1919, Dwight D. Eisenhower needed sixty-two days to travel from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. Now, eighty years and 42,500 miles of paved roads later, the trip can be made in less than seventy-two hours.Divided Highways is the fascinating history behind the efforts to make cement trails across America, told through the stories of the people who dreamed up, mapped out, paved -- and even tried to stop -- the interstate highways. Popular historian Tom Lewis details man's triumph over nature in an engaging, sweeping style. Award-winning film director Ken Burns says: He tells the story of how we get from point A to point B in America. And just as our lives should be, Lewis makes the journey more interesting and meaningful than the destination.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140267719
• ISBN13: 9780140267716
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.9" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book Very Inspiring

This book was very well written. This should be required reading for every civil engineering student in the country. The author tells the story and interweaves significant facts, dates and characters. All of the critical information is there, and he obviously did his homework and tells a truthful, accurate, portrayal of how the interstate highway system brought significant progress to the country. As an engineer and aspiring 'highway man' I loved this book.

Informative, with too much opinion

Mr. Lewis offers an insightful view to the history of the interstate system in the United States. While the first half of the book is a wonderfully interesting read, I think that the second half of the book becomes bogged down with too much of Lewis's opinion. I agree with his point that the interstate has changed the state of America for the worse; however, his argument would be better served by a factual analysis from which the reader could draw his or her own conclusions, rather than trying to lead us down the path to highway hatred.

Never mind Kirkus Reviews--here's a five star author!

I would like to note that while Kirkus Reviews claims "Lewis is not always careful with his facts (e.g., the first enclosed shopping mall was built in 1956, not in 1947...)," they themselves begin their review with a blatant falsehood: "Similar to his Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Lewis has written a tie-in to a PBS documentary." Neither Empire of the Air nor Divided Highways are "tie-in" books. The films are based on the books, not vice-versa, and Kirkus Reviews should know better. Interestingly enough, the first enclosed shopping mall was actually built in 1947, as Lewis wrote. Two strikes for Kirkus! Buy this book!

Entertaining, enlightening and important!

This is the masterpiece that led to the Emmy award winning documentary! A must read!Divided Highways is packed with personal stories and historic markers... read this book and you'll never be bored while driving again. Your entire perspective on the web of roads across America and how they came to be will forever be changed!Highly reccomended!

Interesting history of the highways

Mr. Lewis' book is an interesting narrative of the building of the interstate highway system. His depictions of the stories leading to the building of the system are interesting and informative, although he spends quite a bit of time (almost too much) background on some of the early players. More examples such as the New Orleans narrative, would have been interesting, such as an in-depth history of the battle for the DC inner beltway. Overall, the book is very good, but a bit slow and heavy in person narratives at times.