"Roads Were Not Built For Cars" - full text for the book

"Over the next 12 weeks every single word (all 170,000 of them) and every single chapter of Roads Were Not Built For Cars will be uploaded, for free. Click on the image above to open the preface and Chapter Two in click-flicky mode. To download the chapter as a PDF, open in full-screen mode and hit the share arrow – choose the download option. 

"If you like what you see please consider buying the book. It is available in a number of paid-for formats: print , iPad, Kindle and ePub. Note: the second edition print versions – softback and hardback – are due for publication in mid-April, with pre-ordering available from Island Press."

Reviewers have been positive in their praise for the book:

Edmund King,
President, Automobile Association
“This fascinating insight into the origin of roads will break down some road ownership issues, and help promote harmony for all road users whether on four wheels or two.”
 

Professor David Cox OBE,

Chair of Council, CTC

“Roads Were Not Built For Cars is a major and original piece of work, and a significant contribution to social history. It is also an underpinning for current debates about the urban realm.”

Sam Jordison,
The Guardian 
"... closely argued, meticulously researched … [this] book is also a treasure trove of curious trivia and arcane detail. [The] iPad edition puts [publishing] professionals to shame, featuring lovely use of video, a wealth of images, clever 3D models, and even a 19th-century ditty about speeding cyclists.”

Richard Peploe,

Road.cc

“… a reassuring amount of research has gone into the book … [is is] an essential reference … ... 9/10.”

Brian Palmer,
thewashingmachinepost.net "...when all's said and done, I don't really care why you buy a copy of this book, whether it's on paper or in pixels, but buy it you must ... [it is] a major triumph ... for each and every cyclist the world over."
 

Rosie Bell,

hurryupharry.org

"Roads Were Not Built For Cars is a polemic shot through with a sense of injustice for the written out and colonised – the literally marginalised literally pushed in the gutter when they had literally paved the way for the motorist – [yet] it could be enjoyed by Jeremy Clarkson."

Laura Laker,
Cycling Weekly
“Well-written and thoroughly researched with fascinating insights from primary sources ... 10/10.”

Hans "No Way" Rey,

via Twitter

“Interesting read … City councils should take note.”

Nick Clayton,
cycle historian, Veteran-Cycle Club newsletter
"This volume is the cycle history dissertation for our age … [with] fascinating snippets not noted elsewhere … Whenever a new character or event [is introduced] it is seamlessly related to other players in the story and what may start as a diversion turns out to add flavour, knowledge and enlightenment ... Readers interested in the history of the motorcar will be similarly hooked ... None of the old cycling myths are regurgitated; the prose and proof-reading are beyond reproach and Nicola King’s indexing is immaculate … I cannot recommend this book more highly."
 

David Henshaw,

A to B Magazine

“Roads Were Not Built For Cars is something of a bicycling Ben Bur ... [and also an] entertaining exploration of the early days of motoring ...” David Henshaw. A to B Magazine, December 2014.

Leslie Reissner,
Pezcyclingnews.com
" ... exceptionally well-researched … a fascinating story …[an] important book … describing the development of much of the world we see outside our doors … Roads Were Not Built for Cars ... can be said to break new ground in cycling history, [and] shows us not only the highway from the past but also how we might want to consider how we view the future.”

Dr. Robert Davis,

Road Danger Reduction Forum

"This book is a lot more than a dry history of road building … it fascinates with a steady stream of revelatory contemporary views on who those roads were for. As such it is … a contribution to the debates we should be having now on transport policy.”

Richard Peploe,
Velo Vision
"I don’t believe that there has ever been a more thorough explanation of firstly why roads are now seen as being purely for transport use; secondly why the needs of motor transport have priority over any other consideration; and thirdly the role that bicycles have played ... This book ... gives hope that things can change ... Looking to the future, the book questions whether motorways ... could eventually suffer the same fall from grace as railways if they become less relevant: it might seem inconceivable now, but this book reminds us that transport priorities can and do change, along with the building works required to support them."