This book was completely fascinating in describing the origins of something that all of us use everyday without even thinking twice about what a feat of engineering it took to create something as obvious and commonplace as a road. It describes the development of paved roads in general and takes that development out to the complex interstate system. But beyond that, it tells the stories of the people who made it possible and how their vision changed the United States. The story is much more complex than the usual notion that the interstates were created by Dwight D. Eisenhower (they weren't. He was actually hardly involved at all and comes off as something of a doofus here, actually. With good reason, apparently. Anyway). Also, for a book about an engineering marvel, the author devotes more time than I could have hoped to the social aspects of the creation of a national interstate system (both of them- US routes and the Interstate itself). This makes the story richer and more complete than it would be otherwise.