Car Country: An Environmental History

Acknowledgments

xv aCknoWledgments When I first began to work on what ultimately became this book, now nearly a dozen years ago, I had little inkling of just how much its completion would rely on the stunning generosity, support, insight, and assistance of others. I can never hope to repay the debts that I have accrued, but I am more than happy to name names. I owe particular thanks to my mentors at the University of Wisconsin –Madison, Bill Cronon and the late Paul Boyer, whose extraordinarily high standards for scholarship, teaching, advising, and engaging with a scholarly community were exceeded only by the understated grace and modesty with which they both modeled those standards. I am more grateful than I can say for their advice, rigor, generosity, and friendship. James Baughman, Rudy Koshar, Eric Schatzberg, and Stanley Schultz also lent their critical eyes and ears to my research in its early phase, improving it in ways large and small. Chuck Cohen, Linda Gordon, Bill Reese, Anne Firor Scott, and Joel Wolfe had nothing directly to do with this project, but all are fine scholars and teachers who went out of their way to help me learn what it means to be a historian. At the University of Washington Press, acquiring editor Marianne Keddington-Lang provided constant advice, encouragement, and support through the long process of transforming my research into a book. Together with Bill Cronon, she has helped make the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books series at the University of Washington Press into a real community of authors, not just a list of books. Were I to have tried to dream up a better editor, I would have fallen well short of the mark that Marianne establishes. I am indebted as well to Julie Van Pelt, who read the final manuscript with an incredible combination of precision and artistic sensibility. Many others have read drafts, offered advice, and helped me with the process of transforming crude ideas into a more polished form. Peter Norton and one anonymous reviewer read the entire manuscript with critical eyes, offering suggestions and insights that measurably xvi || aCknoWledgments improved the final product. Ellen Arnold and Tom Robertson read and critiqued most of the manuscript, much of it in prose so raw that none but true friends would willingly subject themselves to the task. Greg Bond, David Hertzberg, Hiroshi Kitamura, and Michael Rawson all read and commented on the lion’s share of my dissertation, and Jeff Allred, Thomas Andrews, Will Barnett, Katie Benton-Cohen, Tracey Deutsch, Jim Feldman, Jeff Filipiak, and Alexander Shashko also read, commented on, and improved various portions of the book. Thanks as well to J. Brooks Flippen, Mathieu Flonneau, Libbie Freed, Jordan Kleiman, Timothy Lecain, Tom McCarthy, Clay McShane, Martin Melosi, Federico Paolini, Pamela Pennock, Paul Sutter, and Thomas Zeller, and the audiences of panels at various conferences where I presented pieces of the research in this book. Thanks for their help and insights to Brian Black, Ed Linenthal, Karen Merrill, Ty Priest, and the anonymous readers at the Journal of American History; Pamela Laird, John Staudenmaier, and the anonymous readers at Technology and Culture ; and Claire Strom at Agricultural History. And finally, a heartfelt thanks to the students in several iterations of the research seminar that I have taught on the subject of this book at Macalester College, Davidson College, and Northland College. In addition to giving me a platform to think out loud about its subjects and issues, these students contributed their own perceptive ideas and provided a critical audience , helping me weed out some of my less useful approaches to the material. Before I could write a word, I benefited from the labors of what feels like a countless number of librarians, reference specialists, and archivists, who helped me navigate collections and track down elusive materials while offering the sort of moral support that keeps isolated researchers going even when they encounter an inevitable rough patch. At The Henry Ford, where I spent four months in the archives, thanks to Judith Endelman, Mark Greene, Cathy Latendresse, Andy Schornick , and Linda Skolarus. I also owe a substantial debt to the staff of the Library of Congress, who filled my steady stream of book orders and shared their magnificent reading room, which served as my daily office for six months. Jeffrey Stine and Roger White at the Smithsonian showed me their collections, answered my questions, and helped make my time in Washington a pleasant experience. I would also [3.140.185.170] Project...