This detailed, closely argued book chronicles the U.S. trucking industry's history, particularly its role in rolling back New Deal policies and regulations, "paving the way for the low-wage, low-price capitalism that would define the final decades of the twentieth-century political economy." Associate history professor Hamilton (Univ. of Georgia) provides a clear if dry tour of 20th century regulation issues case by case, documenting the rise of unions, automated agribusiness, the marginalizing of independent operators and the increased demand for "vigorously anti-New Deal" policies for farm country. Though at times repetitive, the decentralized, grassroots nature of the movement keeps things lively, and Hamilton is a knowledgeable guide to everything from beef trusts to the National Farmers Organization to the 1979 strike that opens the book, in which 75,000 truckers tried to shut down the nation's highway system. Economy and market buffs looking for a different perspective on America's 20th century economic evolution will find this intriguing and informative.
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This detailed, closely argued book chronicles the U.S. trucking industry's history, particularly its role in rolling back New Deal policies and regulations. Hamilton is a knowledgeable guide to everything from beef trusts to the National Farmers Organization to the 1979 strike that opens the book, in which 75,000 truckers tried to shut down the nation's highway system. Economy and market buffs looking for a different perspective on America's 20th century economic evolution will find this intriguing and informative. -- Publishers Weekly
With the US again engaged in a debate over the merits of regulation versus the free market, the book's academic research touches on some timely historical issues. It is also a fascinating account of the political battles over the diesel engine and the refrigerated truck, which had emerged as the new technology of the 1920s and 1930s and a threat to the dominance of the railroad distribution system for beef and milk by a few large meat packing companies and local dairies. -- Jonathan Birchall, Financial Times
Independent trucking is for Hamilton what Kansas was for Frank--the locus that shows a part of what has gone wrong with American politics. -- David Kusnet, Bookforum
Trucking Country intervenes in [the] crowded debate over the demise of New Deal liberalism from a genuinely original vantage point: the political culture of independent long-haul truckers and the political economy shaped by the agribusiness corporations that they served. -- Matthew Lassiter, Democracy
Trucking Country offers a finely crafted mix of cultural identity, regional tradition, economic history, legislative politics, political argument and policy transformation. Shane Hamilton uses the history and contemporary development of the trucking industry in the U.S. to reveal the social, economic and political dynamics that were instrumental in shifting the industry away from the heavy regulation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) towards deregulation, fragmentation, and free-market competition. -- Michael Foley, Times Higher Education
If you want to know what really drives the US economy, then this thoroughly researched and well-written book is for you--and that's a big 10-4, Rubber Duck. -- Joe Cushnan, The Tribune
A brilliant read. -- Fleet Transportation Magazine
[B]y drawing together structural, institutional, economic, and cultural analyses, Hamilton has offered a dense, textured, and complex account of his subject.
Trucking Country is essential to any understanding of the decline of the New Deal and the rise of economic conservatism at the end of the twentieth century. -- Joseph E. Lowndes, Perspectives on Politics
This is a convincing and useful book. -- Peter J. Hugill, Journal of American History
[A] fascinating study of the hauling business. . . . From the 1930s through the end of the Carter administration, Hamilton's history is thoughtful, detailed, and informative. -- Jesse Walker, Reason
[U]ndeniably a major achievement. Shane Hamilton has written a brilliant book that will be required reading for anyone interested ill understanding the conservative groundswell of the postwar era. -- Jordan Kleiman, Technology and Culture
Trucking Country is imaginative, thought-provoking, and persuasive. . . . [N]o scholarly work is more essential for understanding the transformation of Northwest Arkansas. -- Michael Pierce, Arkansas Historical Quarterly
