Publishers Weekly
01/23/2023
Car culture comes under furious attack in this high-spirited jeremiad. Revisiting the early 20th century, when “cars were seen as dangerous ‘pleasure’ machines that killed children, while taking the road away from ordinary folk,” journalist Knowles contends that the first “jaywalking” ordinance—passed in L.A. in 1925—signaled that “the street was not for people, but for vehicles.” As cars gained popularity, cities and suburbs were designed to accommodate them and it became difficult to travel in other ways. Knowles details how the frenzy of road-building often came at the expense of Black Americans, whose neighborhoods were razed, and spotlights Jane Jacobs’s successful fight to save Greenwich Village as a case study in fighting back. Knowles casts a skeptical eye on electric cars and self-driving cars, but finds hope for reducing climate change and congestion in cities like Paris, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, where investments in bicycling infrastructure have paid off, and in Tokyo’s mass transit system, an exemplar of a city that puts the interests of people before cars. Unfortunately, Knowles’s case is somewhat undermined by his lack of focus on alternatives to driving in rural communities, and by a handful of broad and overly antagonistic statements (“Driving seems to bring out people’s deepest racial hatreds”). Though it’s sharply argued and solidly supported, this sermon is best suited for the choir. (Mar.)
New Yorker
A serious diatribe against cars as agents of social oppression, international inequality, and ecological disaster . . . briskly written, well researched, and with a knack for landing the significant statistic right after the crisply summarized argument.
Washington Post
My appetite for the arguments ‘Carmageddon’ makes, and the types of information it presents, is high. It’s well-written, sliding casually between research findings, the historical literature, journalistic observations from across the globe and personal experience.”
Jacobin
Nimble, engaging, and persuasive . . . Carmaggedon is especially effective in exposing the extant harm that automobiles pose to pedestrians.”
“Best Books of the Summer” Financial Times
A punch account of how our cities became clogged with cars, and how myopic policies keep them that way.
Streetsblog Chicago
Knowles . . . builds a comprehensive case against cars and the central role we have given them in our society. Carmageddon carefully runs through history to explain how we radically restructured our cities to make room for cars, what we sacrificed in the process, and where we can look to see how to fix these mistakes.”
Brent Toderian
Our cities are at a critical turning point, facing cumulative crises fueled by how badly we’ve surrendered our future to more and bigger cars. We all need to know the REAL costs and consequences of the car dependency we’ve built, ironically in the name of ‘freedom.’ That’s why this book is so badly needed right now. It’s smart, thorough, engaging, quotable, and persuasive!
senior research associate in the Metropolitan Hous Yonah Freemark
In Carmageddon, Daniel Knowles takes us on a tour of the world’s auto-dependency, showing us how our day-to-day lives have been mercilessly captured by the need to use automobiles for almost every task—and serve their ever-growing needs through aggressive highway construction and unwalkable land uses. Knowles makes the case that we need a better way to get around, and argues that we need to reshape our cities and our lives in the process. In the context of our climate crisis and the desire of billions around the globe to live in places with a higher quality of life, Carmageddon is a clarion call for change.
San Francisco Chronicle
‘Carmageddon’ is one of the first [books] to show how America’s ingrained car culture is spreading globally to disastrous effect. Knowles also delves deep into issues that were long ignored in the broader car conversation, namely how adversely the car and its externalities...affect people of color and the poor.”
Booklist
Knowles offers a fresh look at the impact of the automobile . . . Readers will find this perspective enlightening and make them pause the next time they think of hopping in their cars.”
From the Publisher
A serious diatribe against cars as agents of social oppression, international inequality, and ecological disaster . . . briskly written, well researched, and with a knack for landing the significant statistic right after the crisply summarized argument.”—New Yorker
“‘Carmageddon’ is one of the first [books] to show how America’s ingrained car culture is spreading globally to disastrous effect. Knowles also delves deep into issues that were long ignored in the broader car conversation, namely how adversely the car and its externalities...affect people of color and the poor.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“My appetite for the arguments ‘Carmageddon’ makes, and the types of information it presents, is high. It’s well-written, sliding casually between research findings, the historical literature, journalistic observations from across the globe and personal experience.”—Washington Post
“Knowles offers a fresh look at the impact of the automobile . . . Readers will find this perspective enlightening and make them pause the next time they think of hopping in their cars.”—Booklist
“[A] high-spirited jeremiad . . . sharply argued and solidly supported.”—Publishers Weekly
“Nimble, engaging, and persuasive . . . Carmaggedon is especially effective in exposing the extant harm that automobiles pose to pedestrians.”—Jacobin
“Knowles . . . builds a comprehensive case against cars and the central role we have given them in our society. Carmageddon carefully runs through history to explain how we radically restructured our cities to make room for cars, what we sacrificed in the process, and where we can look to see how to fix these mistakes.”—Streetsblog Chicago
“In Carmageddon, Daniel Knowles takes us on a tour of the world’s auto-dependency, showing us how our day-to-day lives have been mercilessly captured by the need to use automobiles for almost every task—and serve their ever-growing needs through aggressive highway construction and unwalkable land uses. Knowles makes the case that we need a better way to get around, and argues that we need to reshape our cities and our lives in the process. In the context of our climate crisis and the desire of billions around the globe to live in places with a higher quality of life, Carmageddon is a clarion call for change.”—Yonah Freemark, senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
“Our cities are at a critical turning point, facing cumulative crises fueled by how badly we’ve surrendered our future to more and bigger cars. We all need to know the REAL costs and consequences of the car dependency we’ve built, ironically in the name of ‘freedom.’ That’s why this book is so badly needed right now. It’s smart, thorough, engaging, quotable, and persuasive!”—Brent Toderian, global advisor on better cities and former chief city planner for Vancouver, Canada.
“A punch account of how our cities became clogged with cars, and how myopic policies keep them that way.”—Financial Times, “Best Books of the Summer”
June 2023 - AudioFile
Christian Coulson provides a smooth performance of this timely discussion of the global culture of automobiles and their role in everyday life during a time of climate change and ever-expanding cities. Chicago-based journalist Daniel Knowles has subtitled this audiobook "How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It." Listeners will find much to ruminate on. Coulson's British accent is smooth, and his tone sometimes emotional as he engages with this history of city planning and interstates; public transportation, cars, and government-mandated parking needs; and eye-opening facts and figures about automobiles. Listeners may even find themselves contemplating the prospect of planned living in a walkable community. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
