The Big Roads

Swift (Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers) takes on the myth-plagued story of how America's interstate highway system came to be. Not so much a single story but a series of intertwined tales, the book busts many of the myths around the who, what, when, why, and how of today's superhighways. The stakeholders (users, industrialists, politicians, engineers) and their roles are surprisingly fluid over time. While a discussion of the highways as social and economic change agents occupies some of the book, it is not the primary focus. Swift also does not focus on engineering specifications, roadway structures, or road alignment battles across the nation, though he occasionally mentions those topics. This is a story about the characters who, over several decades, played a role in building the greatest public works project in history. Unfortunately, few pictures are available.