This book focuses on the role of government in organizing the nation's transportation industries. As the authors show, over the course of the twentieth century transportation in the United States was as much a product of hard-fought politics, lobbying, and litigation as it was a naturally evolving system of engineering and available technology.

The Best Transportation System in the World
Railroads, Trucks, Airlines, and American Public Policy in the Twentieth Century

Mark H. Rose, Bruce E. Seely, and Paul F. Barrett

2010 | 344 pages | Paper $24.95
American History | Public Policy
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Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

Ch.1. Seeking a new regulatory regime in transportation: railroad consolidation in the 1920s
Ch. 2. The new transportation problem: the politics of transportation coordination, 1925-1940
Ch. 3. Constructing commercial aviation, 1944-1973
Ch. 4. Run-up to deregulation: surface transportation, 1949-1970
Ch. 5. Transportation in a "Presidential Nation"
Ch. 6. Richard M. Nixon and planning for deregulation, 1970-1974
Ch. 7. Gerald R. Ford and presidential deregulation, 1974-1977
Ch. 8. Jimmy Carter and deregulation of the "best transportation system in the world," 1977-1980
Ch. 9. The American state and transportation

Conclusion
Acknowledgments