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Drunk Driving since 1900
The Johns Hopkins University Press
September 2011
On Sale: September 7, 2011
240 pages ISBN: 1421401908 EAN: 9781421401904 Kindle: B005UK35HU Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Don't drink and drive. It's a deceptively simple rule, but
one that is all too often ignored. And while efforts to
eliminate drunk driving have been around as long as
automobiles, every movement to keep drunks from driving has
hit some alarming bumps in the road. Barron H. Lerner narrates the two strong—and vocal—sides to
this debate in the United States: those who argue vehemently
against drunk driving, and those who believe the problem is
exaggerated and overregulated. A public health professor and
historian of medicine, Lerner asks why these opposing views
exist, examining drunk driving in the context of American
beliefs about alcoholism, driving, individualism, and civil
liberties. Angry and bereaved activist leaders and advocacy groups like
Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign passionately for
education and legislation, but even as people continue to be
killed, many Americans remain unwilling to take stronger
steps to address the problem. Lerner attributes this
attitude to Americans' love of drinking and love of driving,
an inadequate public transportation system, the strength of
the alcohol lobby, and the enduring backlash against
Prohibition. The stories of people killed and maimed by
drunk drivers are heartrending, and the country's routine
rejection of reasonable strategies for ending drunk driving
is frustratingly inexplicable. This book is a fascinating study of the culture of drunk
driving, grassroots and professional efforts to stop it, and
a public that has consistently challenged and tested the
limits of individual freedom. Why, despite decades and
decades of warnings, do people still choose to drive while
intoxicated? One for the Road provides crucial historical
lessons for understanding the old epidemic of drunk driving.
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