Part of my holiday reading was Trucking Country by Shane Hamilton, a new title from my own dear publisher Princeton University Press. It was right up my street – will be reviewing it for the next issue of The Business Economist – because it has technology, rich historical detail and contemporary relevance. The subject is the impact of the highway network on rural America, with roads taking over from the railways as the means of distribution for farm produce because of a concatenation of influences (ie. all the ducks lined up in a row), including the technological (refrigeration as well as wheels and tyres), infrastructure (the road network). social (the role of the Teamsters, the different classes of farmers). And we end up understanding why rural white America is bitter, to cite the president-elect. However, I must confess that it was heavy going at times, being an academic book. It made me pine for the trade paperback version, perhaps with a different cover in the way Harry Potter books have adult and kiddy covers. In fact, wouldn't that be terrific for so many academic books? Sadly it will require either a revolutionary approach to communication in the university world (ie they decide they're all in favour of it, in place of the kind of grand but impenetrable academic-speak so often needed to progress in one's career); or a much bigger investment in active editing by academic publishers. Anyway, this book is at the readable end of the spectrum, and has pictures too.
This blog is going to cover the world of economics books – content, upcoming titles, gossip. I'm reviews editor for The Business Economist, write books and read oodles of them. 'Economics' will be interpreted widely. Updating will be irregular but frequent – at least, that's the plan. Eventually there'll be a podcast too.