"Once upon a time, the American met the Automobile and fell in love. Unfortunately, this led him into matrimony, and so he did not live happily ever after."

This is a book about what America and the automobile have done to each other.

Do you ever wonder why today's cars look the way they do, and why they cost so much? Is the public at the mercy of Detroit? Or vice-versa? Are the new highways drawing the nation together -- or are they merely homogenizing it? What goes on behind the facade at your friendly dealer's, and when you buy a car do you know how to penetrate the Byzantine snarl of auto "financing"? Is our marriage to the automobile part of our greatness, or is it a disaster -- and what can we do about it, anyway?

Wielding a rapier tipped with wit, edged with anger and forged with the facts, John Keats slashes aside myth and chrome, to reveal the truth behind our fateful match. Whether you want to get a horse or settle for a horse laugh -- you will never again look at your car yourself, or your native land in quite the same way... (Excerpt from fly leaf)