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 TribuneA 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-TribuneDivided 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 MagazineLewis 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 AssociationThis 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 WeeklyLewis 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 buildi