Relates how the technology of urban mass transit and society interact.
Robert C. Post received his doctorate in American history from the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1974 to 1996 he was employed by the National Museum of History and Technology/Museum of American History. His books include Street Railways and the Growth of Los Angeles (1989) and Technology, Transport, and Travel in American History (2003). For fifteen years he was editor of Technology and Culture, the quarterly journal of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). He was SHOT's president in 1997-98 and recipient of its Leonardo Da Vinci Medal in 2001.
Post offers Urban Mass Transit--The Life Story of Technology, a
well-written book that traces the development of the trolley and
streetcar to today's light rail transit (LRT). The book includes
material on urbanization and transit via horsepower; introduction
of mechanical means to run cable railways; electrification and the
rise of the trolley; motor vehicle developments and trolley use
decline; and rapid transit expansion and the revival of mass
transit. The book includes a time line, glossary, and list of
resources. Post has done an excellent job, using stories,
photographs, sketches, and facts to construct a fascinating
historical account of innovation. An appealing work for the general
public as well as students and others with interests in public
transit. Recommended. General readers; lower-division
undergraduates through professionals.
*Choice*
Narrating the life story of urban mass transit in the United
States, Post focuses on streetcars, trolleys, light rail, and
similar transport and pays significantly less attention to buses
and subways. His primary theme as he explores the mass transit
developments in the 20th century concerns the ways public and
decision makers evaluated the costs and benefits of various transit
choices, both in strictly economic terms and in terms of wider
societal concerns, including noise, pollution, and even
aesthetics.
*SciTech Book News*
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