Download or read book Parking Cars in America 1910 1945 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its decentralized urban areas, pollution, and mostly inadequate public transit systems, America pays a heavy price for its dependency on cars. This volume explores one of the more pressing aspects of the problem--storage--from 1910 to the end of World War II, contrasting the reality and perception of car parking as found in the pages of the popular newspapers and magazines. From early bans on street parking to street widening efforts to the introduction of parking lots, garages, and parking meters, the book chronicles attempts to accommodate the ever-increasing number of cars. By failing to effect any meaningful regulations along the way, this work shows, Americans slowly ceded authority and dominance to the automobile, to the detriment of present-day society.
Download or read book The Electric Car in America 1890 1922 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-03-28 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The electric vehicle seemed poised in 1900 to be a leader in automotive production. Clean, odorless, noiseless and mechanically simple, electrics rarely broke down and were easy to operate. An electric car could be started instantly from the driver's seat; no other machine could claim that advantage. But then it all went wrong. As this history details, the hope and confidence of 1900 collapsed and just two decades later electric cars were effectively dead. They had remained expensive even as gasoline cars saw dramatic price reductions, and the storage battery was an endless source of problems. An increasingly frantic public relations campaign of lies and deceptive advertising could not turn the tide.
Download or read book Paved Paradise written by Henry Grabar and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic “Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.” —The New Yorker “Wry and revelatory.” —The New York Times "A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong . . . highly entertaining." —The Los Angeles Times An entertaining, enlightening, and utterly original investigation into one of the most quietly influential forces in modern American life—the humble parking spot Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a shocking number of Americans kill one another over parking spots, and we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Since the advent of the car, we have deformed our cities in a Sisyphean quest for car storage, and as a result, much of the nation’s most valuable real estate is now devoted to empty vehicles. Parking determines the design of new buildings and the fate of old ones, traffic patterns and the viability of transit, neighborhood politics and municipal finance, and the overall quality of public space. Is this really the best use of our finite resources? Is parking really more important than everything else? In a beguiling and absurdly hilarious mix of history, politics, and reportage, Slate staff writer Henry Grabar brilliantly surveys the nation’s parking crisis, revealing how the compulsion for car storage has exacerbated some of our most acute problems— from housing affordability to the accelerating global climate disaster—and, ultimately, how we can free our cities from parking’s cruel yoke.
Download or read book Hella Town written by Mitchell Schwarzer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hella Town reveals the profound impact of transportation improvements, systemic racism, and regional competition on Oakland’s built environment. Often overshadowed by San Francisco, its larger and more glamorous twin, Oakland has a fascinating history of its own. From serving as a major transportation hub to forging a dynamic manufacturing sector, by the mid-twentieth century Oakland had become the urban center of the East Bay. Hella Town focuses on how political deals, economic schemes, and technological innovations fueled this emergence but also seeded the city’s postwar struggles. Toward the turn of the millennium, as immigration from Latin America and East Asia increased, Oakland became one of the most diverse cities in the country. The city still grapples with the consequences of uneven class- and race-based development-amid-disruption. How do past decisions about where to locate highways or public transit, urban renewal districts or civic venues, parks or shopping centers, influence how Oaklanders live today? A history of Oakland’s buildings and landscapes, its booms and its busts, provides insight into its current conditions: an influx of new residents and businesses, skyrocketing housing costs, and a lingering chasm between the haves and have-nots.
Download or read book Forecasting Travel in Urban America written by Konstantinos Chatzis and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-07-11 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of urban travel demand modeling (UTDM) and its enormous influence on American life from the 1920s to the present. For better and worse, the automobile has been an integral part of the American way of life for decades. Its ascendance would have been far less spectacular, however, had engineers and planners not devised urban travel demand modeling (UTDM). This book tells the story of this irreplaceable engineering tool that has helped cities accommodate continuous rise in traffic from the 1950s on. Beginning with UTDM’s origins as a method to help plan new infrastructure, Konstantinos Chatzis follows its trajectory through new generations of models that helped make optimal use of existing capacity and examines related policy instruments, including the recent use of intelligent transportation systems. Chatzis investigates these models as evolving entities involving humans and nonhumans that were shaped through a specific production process. In surveying the various generations of UTDM, he delves into various means of production (from tabulating machines to software packages) and travel survey methods (from personal interviews to GPS tracking devices and smartphones) used to obtain critical information. He also looks at the individuals who have collectively built a distinct UTDM social world by displaying specialized knowledge, developing specific skills, and performing various tasks and functions, and by communicating, interacting, and even competing with one another. Original and refreshingly accessible, Forecasting Travel in Urban America offers the first detailed history behind the thinkers and processes that impact the lives of millions of city dwellers every day.
Download or read book Women and Bicycles in America 1868 1900 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last third of the 1800s, America was struck by a bicycle craze. This trend massively impacted the lives of women, allowing them greater mobility and changing perceptions of women as weak or in need of chaperons. This book traces the history and development of the American bicycle, observing its critical role in the fight for gender equality. The bicycle radically changed the face of fashion, health and even morality and propriety in America. This thorough history traces the sweeping social advances made by women in relation to the development of the bicycle.
Download or read book Taming the Automobile written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-06-11 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first decade of the auto industry in America featured politicians and bureaucrats at all political levels trying to come to terms with a new form of locomotion. Rules and regulations had to be drafted, implemented, and then enforced. Working against them was a small but wealthy and powerful group that fought against regulations, tried to weaken those they could not block, or sought to write the rules themselves. This book details how the auto industry was imposed on society from the top down, unlike many new innovations that go through society from the bottom up.
Download or read book The National Security League 1914 1922 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early 20th century saw the founding of the National Security League, a nationalistic nonprofit organization committed to an expanded military, conscripted service and meritocracy. This book details its history, from its formation in December 1914 through 1922, at which point it was a spent force in decline. Founded by wealthy corporate lawyers based in New York City, it had secret backers in the capitalist class, who had two goals in mind. One was to profit immensely from the newly begun World War I. The other was to control the working classes in times of both war and peace. This agenda was presented to the public under the guise of preparedness, patriotism, and Americanization. Although the league was eventually found by Congress to have violated election spending limits, no sanctions of any kind were ever applied. This history details the secret machinations of an organization dedicated to solidifying the grip of the capitalist class over workers, all under the cover of American pride.
Download or read book Extras of Early Hollywood written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-04-26 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pity the "extras." Mostly overlooked and forgotten. Especially those in the major Hollywood films 1913 to 1945--right through the dream factory's golden era. The struggles of extras to unionize were followed by internal struggles as the extras fought for a voice within that union. There were just too few jobs for far too many extras, some of whom were lured to Hollywood by what seemed to be rags-to-riches tales of stardom (but which were likely little more than industry publicity plants). Once lured to the film capital the reality was much different: low pay, little or no work, ripoffs from private employment agencies, and sexual harassment of the women, likely very much underreported. Some extras had special skills or language abilities, some had wardrobes replete with many period costumes.
Download or read book The Women Who Got America Talking written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the need for telephone operators arose in the 1870s, the assumption was that they should all be male. Wages for adult men were too high, so boys were hired. They proved quick to argue with the subscribers, so females replaced them. Women were calmer, had reassuring voices and rarely talked back. Within a few years, telephone operators were all female and would remain so. The pay was low and working conditions harsh. The job often impaired their health, as they suffered abuse from subscribers in silence under pain of dismissal. Discipline was stern--dress codes were mandated, although they were never seen by the public. Most were young, domestic and anything but militant. Yet many joined unions and walked picket lines in response to the severely capitalistic, sexist system they worked under.
Download or read book Police Violence in America 1869 1920 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-08-05 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Police violence is not a new phenomenon. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, police officers in America assaulted or killed many ordinary citizens, often during improper detainments or arrests where no threat existed or no crime had been committed. Based on hundreds of newspaper accounts from 1869 through 1920, this history provides a chronological listing of interactions between police and unarmed citizens in which the citizens—some of them minors—were assaulted or killed. Police who committed such acts often lied to protect themselves, assisted by fellow officers and encouraging the media to demonize the victims. The author provides information on the prosecution and punishment of officers where available.
Download or read book Chewing Gum in America 1850 1920 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans began chewing gum long before 1850, scraping resin from spruce trees, removing any bits of bark or insects and chewing the finished product. Commercially-made gum was of limited availability and came in three types--tree resin, pretroleum-based paraffin and chicle-based--the latter, a natural latex, ultimately eclipsing its rivals by 1920. Once considered a women-only bad habit, chewing gum grew in popularity and was soon indulged in by all segments of society. The gum industry tried vigorously to export the habit, but it proved uniquely American and would not stick abroad. This book examines the chewing gum industry in the United States from 1850 to 1920, the rise and spread of gum chewing and the reactions--nearly all negative--to the habit from editorial writers, reformers, religious figures, employers and the courts. The age-old problem of what to do with chewed gum--some saved it in lockets around their neck; some shared it with friends--is also covered.
Download or read book Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance in America 1862 1920 written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-09-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the 2013 revelations of Edward Snowden, Americans have come to realize that many of us may be under surveillance at any time. It all started 150 years ago on the battlefields of the Civil War, where each side tapped the other's telegraph lines. It continued in 1895, when the New York Police Department began to tap telephone lines. It was 20 years before it was public knowledge, and by then the NYPD was so busy tapping they had a separate room set aside for the purpose. Wiretapping really took off in 1910, when the dictograph--the first ready-to-use bug that anyone could operate--arrived, making it easier still to engage in electronic surveillance. Politicians bugged other politicians, corporations bugged labor unions, stockbrokers bugged other stockbrokers, and the police bugged everybody. And we were well on our way to the future that George Orwell envisioned, the world Edward Snowden revealed: Big Brother had arrived.
Download or read book Owning the Street written by Amelia Thorpe and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How local, specific, and personal understandings about belonging, ownership, and agency intersect with law to shape the city. In Owning the Street, Amelia Thorpe examines everyday experiences of and feelings about property and belonging in contemporary cities. She grounds her account in an empirical study of PARK(ing) Day, an annual event that reclaims street space from cars. A popular and highly recognizable example of DIY Urbanism, PARK(ing) Day has attracted considerable media attention, but has not yet been the subject of close scholarly examination. Focusing on the event's trajectories in San Francisco, Sydney, and Montreal, Thorpe addresses this gap, making use of extensive interview data, field work, and careful reflection to explore these tiny, temporary, and often transformative interventions.
Download or read book The Hatpin Menace written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-02-16 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1887 and 1920, the humble hatpin went from an unremarkable item in every woman's wardrobe, to a fashion necessity, to a dangerous weapon (it was said). Big hair and big hats of the era meant big hatpins, and their weaponized use sparked controversy. There were "good" uses of hatpins, such as fending off an attacker in the street. There were also "bad" uses, such as when a woman being arrested tried to stab a police officer. But seriously: All those protruding pins seemed to threaten people everywhere in the public sphere. It did not sit well with the patriarchy, who responded with hysterical crusades and often ludicrous legislation aimed at curbing the hatpin and disarming American women.
Download or read book Beware the Masher written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-02-26 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the history of sexual harassment in America's public places, such as on the streets and on public transit vehicles, in the period 1880 to 1930. Such behavior was referred to then as mashing with the harasser most commonly being called a masher. It began around 1880 as a response to the women's movement as females in America increased their efforts to gain more freedom of movement and greater independence. Women going out and about on their own, or only with other women, threatened male dominance and control of society. One response by men was to turn to the sexual harassment of those women when they were alone in public places. This book looks at the extent of the problem, editorial opinions on the subject, the tendency to blame the victim, and the responses of women in the streets to the harassment. As well, the actions and reactions of the courts and the actions and reactions of the police are studied. Much of the sexual harassment of this period took place in the daytime hours, in busy areas of cities.
Download or read book Policewomen written by Kerry Segrave and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-02-24 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women in policing have seen three phases of acceptance. Beginning in about 1880, they were admitted as police matrons with extremely limited duties. Next they were accepted as policewomen around 1910-1916, when that title was officially bestowed on them. Finally came assignment of females as general duty officers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Not coincidentally, an active women's movement was the driving force behind all three phases. As women in policing went from matrons to regular officers, they faced harassment and discrimination that only worsened as they neared equality. Many still face it today. This book examines the history of policewomen from 1880 to 2012--particularly in the U.S.--and tells the story of their gradual recognition by the professional establishment of male officers.
