Ikes Road Trip is a great ride in every sense. Combining deep research with stylistic verve, Brian C. Black takes us back to a formative moment in the American Century, when a young Dwight D. Eisenhower led a convoy of military vehicles across the United States. The experience transformed Eisenhower, and would ultimately transform America as well, with ramifications for our current moment. This is history at its most engaging.
Ted Widmer, author of Lincoln on the Verge
The bulk of this story details the trials and tribulations of the convoy, and its as engaging as any tale of westward expansion.
Wall Street Journal
There are numerous historical nuggets about the pioneering drive pit-stopped across this bookand plenty of competition for the countrys worst roads (Utahs salt flats may take first place). How we got from dirt and gravel roads to President Eisenhowers 1956 federal interstate plan is a plenty interesting journey all by itself.
Afar magazine
An epic storyand a reminder that we desperately need twenty-first century visionaries who will do as much to put us off the hydrocarbon road.
Bill McKibben, author The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon
Although the energy transition began before the Interstate Highway System was initiated, Ike understood from the transcontinental convoy of 1919 and during the fight for the German Autobahn during WWII that no modern society could exist without the capacity to link itself into one cohesive country.
Susan Eisenhower, author of How Ike Led
Deploying a talent shared with Eisenhower, Black recognizes the links between the small details and the larger picturenone larger than the history of energy transitions.
J. R. McNeill, author of The Webs of Humankind
Fun and enlightening.
Adam Rome, author of The Bulldozer in the Countryside
An accessible and insightful book whose issues resonate today more than ever.
Thomas Zeller, author of Consuming Landscapes
An eye-opener. Ikes Road Trip enriches Eisenhower historiography and encourages readers to ponder energy choices they will face.
Michael J. Birkner, editor of Democracys Shield
Brian C. Blacks wonderful telling of Ikes Road Trip introduces readers to a little-known story about an American icon of the twentieth century.
Edward T. Linenthal, author of Sacred Ground
An insightful and enjoyable take on Americas long love affair with cars and roads.
Raechel Lutz, co-editor of American Energy Cinema
Brian C. Black takes his readers on a thrilling ride through the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, along the greatest road-building endeavor of all time.
Tyler Priest, author of The Offshore Imperative
A timely meditation on a monumental energy transition whose consequences remain very much with us today.
Paul S. Sutter, author of Driven Wild
A cautionary tale about the origins of our oil and auto dependency and their twenty-first century consequences.
Gabrielle Esperdy, author of American Autopia
An engaging and fast-paced account that positions the early history of one of Americas iconic leaders within the rapidly changing world of emerging twentieth-century ICE technologies and infrastructures. This book deftly weaves parallels between past events and our current moment of energy transition and is perfect for the undergraduate classroom and for readers looking for a biography or military history.
Sarah Stanford-McIntyre, author of Natural Risk
