Dispatches from the Post-Automobile Future, by Taras Grescoe
A Voyage Back to 1955, When Passenger Rail Still Ruled the Land // After spending some time in Europe—where I almost always get around by rail, usually of the high-speed variety—I'm inevitably beset by a sense of melancholy when I return to North America. On this continent,
And Other Inspiring Places where Books and Transport Meet // Last week, I wrote about the co-evolution of railways and books. To summarize: railway journeys, often of several hours, often in compartments, were ideal settings for reading a book, a newspaper, or a magazine. In the mid-19th century, booksellers such as
The Express Co-Evolution of Books and Trains // As a child, I dreaded long drives in the family car. I was a bookish kid, but when I tried to read in the backseat of one of a long line of Volkswagens, I was gradually overtaken by a mounting nausea that would
A Summer-Holiday Listicle, Straphanger-Style // People often ask me: Grescoe, what do you have against automobiles, anyway? I sometimes tell them it all goes back to when, downwardly mobile after university, I worked as a delivery driver. Forty hours a week, I watched the world from behind glass, getting angry at
The Trials of Trying to Buy a Ticket—Any Ticket—After 30 Years of Privatization I was invited to give a talk at a literary festival in Wales last month. I accepted with pleasure, and, though I was advised to rent a car by the festival organizers, I resolved to
