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The Resource Killer on the road : violence and the American interstate, Ginger Strand, (electronic resource)

Killer on the road : violence and the American interstate, Ginger Strand, (electronic resource)

Creator
Contributor
Summary
True crime meets cultural history in this story of how America's interstate highway system opened a world of mobility and opportunity . . .for serial killers. Starting in the 1950s, Americans eagerly built the planet's largest public work: the 42,795-mile National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Before the concrete was dry on the new roads, however, a specter began haunting them: the highway killer. He went by many names: the "Hitcher," the "Freeway Killer," the "Killer on the Road," the "I-5 Strangler," and the "Beltway Sniper." Some of these criminals were imagined, but many were real. The nation's murder rate shot up as its expressways were built. America became more violent and more mobile at the same time. Killer on the Road tells the entwined stories of America's highways and its highway killers. There's the hot-rodding juvenile delinquent who led the National Guard on a multistate manhunt; the wannabe highway patrolman who murdered hitchhiking coeds; the record promoter who preyed on "ghetto kids" in a city reshaped by freeways; the nondescript married man who stalked the interstates seeking women with car trouble; and the trucker who delivered death with his cargo. Thudding away behind these grisly crime sprees is the story of the interstates-how they were sold, how they were built, how they reshaped the nation-and how we came to equate them with violence. Through the stories of highway killers, we see how the "killer on the road," like the train robber, the gangster, and the mobster, entered the cast of American outlaws, and how the freeway-conceived as a road to utopia-came to be feared as a highway to hell. "Strand . . . Explores the connection between America's sprawling highway system and the pathology of the murderers who have made them a killing ground. . . . The grim stories of murder on the highway may do for road trips what Jaws did for surfing. An interesting detour into a true-crime niche." ―Kirkus Reviews "Strand's cross-threaded tales of drifters, stranded motorists, and madmen got its hooks into me. Reading Ms. Strand's thoughtful book is like driving a Nash Rambler after midnight on a highway to hell." -Dwight Garner, The New York Times "A titillating, clever volume that mixes the sweeping sociological assertions of an urban-studies textbook with the chilling gore of true-crime stories." -Bookforum"Ginger Strand is in possession of a sharp eye, a biting wit, a beguiling sense of fun-and a magnificent obsession." -Bloomberg
Language
eng
Work
Instance
Label
Killer on the road : violence and the American interstate
Title
Killer on the road
Title remainder
violence and the American interstate
Statement of responsibility
Ginger Strand
Creator
Contributor
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
True crime meets cultural history in this story of how America's interstate highway system opened a world of mobility and opportunity . . .for serial killers. Starting in the 1950s, Americans eagerly built the planet's largest public work: the 42,795-mile National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Before the concrete was dry on the new roads, however, a specter began haunting them: the highway killer. He went by many names: the "Hitcher," the "Freeway Killer," the "Killer on the Road," the "I-5 Strangler," and the "Beltway Sniper." Some of these criminals were imagined, but many were real. The nation's murder rate shot up as its expressways were built. America became more violent and more mobile at the same time. Killer on the Road tells the entwined stories of America's highways and its highway killers. There's the hot-rodding juvenile delinquent who led the National Guard on a multistate manhunt; the wannabe highway patrolman who murdered hitchhiking coeds; the record promoter who preyed on "ghetto kids" in a city reshaped by freeways; the nondescript married man who stalked the interstates seeking women with car trouble; and the trucker who delivered death with his cargo. Thudding away behind these grisly crime sprees is the story of the interstates-how they were sold, how they were built, how they reshaped the nation-and how we came to equate them with violence. Through the stories of highway killers, we see how the "killer on the road," like the train robber, the gangster, and the mobster, entered the cast of American outlaws, and how the freeway-conceived as a road to utopia-came to be feared as a highway to hell. "Strand . . . Explores the connection between America's sprawling highway system and the pathology of the murderers who have made them a killing ground. . . . The grim stories of murder on the highway may do for road trips what Jaws did for surfing. An interesting detour into a true-crime niche." ―Kirkus Reviews "Strand's cross-threaded tales of drifters, stranded motorists, and madmen got its hooks into me. Reading Ms. Strand's thoughtful book is like driving a Nash Rambler after midnight on a highway to hell." -Dwight Garner, The New York Times "A titillating, clever volume that mixes the sweeping sociological assertions of an urban-studies textbook with the chilling gore of true-crime stories." -Bookforum"Ginger Strand is in possession of a sharp eye, a biting wit, a beguiling sense of fun-and a magnificent obsession." -Bloomberg
Cataloging source
Midwest
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Strand, Ginger Gail
Dewey number
364.152/30973
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
dictionaries
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
hoopla digital
Series statement
Discovering America
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Murder
  • Murderers
  • Violence
  • Interstate Highway System
  • Express highways
  • Automobile travel
  • Electronic books
  • United States
Target audience
adult
Label
Killer on the road : violence and the American interstate, Ginger Strand, (electronic resource)
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Distribution
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
Isbn
9780292742109
Isbn Type
(electronic bk.)
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
14926479
Publisher number
MWT14926479
Specific material designation
remote
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Label
Killer on the road : violence and the American interstate, Ginger Strand, (electronic resource)
Link
Publication
Distribution
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
Isbn
9780292742109
Isbn Type
(electronic bk.)
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
14926479
Publisher number
MWT14926479
Specific material designation
remote
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web

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