Research Catalog

Title

The Great Society subway : a history of the Washington Metro / Zachary M. Schrag.

Author

Schrag, Zachary M.

Publication

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xv, 355 pages : illustrations, maps; 26 cm.

Summary

"Drivers in the nation's capital face a host of hazards: high-speed traffic circles, presidential motorcades, jaywalking tourists, and bewildering signs that send unsuspecting motorists from the Lincoln Memorial into suburban Virginia in less than two minutes. And parking? Don't bet on it unless you're in the fast lane of the Capital Beltway during rush hour." "Little wonder, then, that so many residents and visitors rely on the Washington Metro, the 106-mile rapid transit system that serves the District of Columbia and its inner suburbs. In the first comprehensive history of the Metro, Zachary M. Schrag tells the story of the Great Society Subway from its earliest rumblings to the present day, from Arlington to College Park, Eisenhower to Marion Barry." "Using extensive archival research as well as oral history, Schrag argues that the Metro can be understood only in the political context from which it was born: the Great Society liberalism of the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. The Metro emerged from a period when Americans believed in public investments suited to the grandeur and dignity of the world's richest nation. The Metro was built not merely to move commuters, but in the words of Lyndon Johnson, to create "a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community."" "Schrag scrutinizes the project from its earliest days, including general planning, routes, station architecture, funding decisions, land-use impacts, and the behavior of Metro riders. The story of the Great Society Subway sheds light on the development of metropolitan Washington, postwar urban policy, and the promises and limits of rail transit in American cities."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Creating the North American landscape

Uniform Title

Creating the North American landscape.

Subjects

• Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
• Local transit > Social aspects > Washington Metropolitan Area
• Subways > Washington Metropolitan Area

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-346) and index.

ISBN

080188246X (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

2005012141

OCLC

• OCM60321479
• SCSB-5237516

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries