Series Foreword
As the series editor for Praeger’s Environmental Degradation and Public
Health series, I am proud to present Chad Frederick’s remarkable book,
America’s Addiction to Automobiles. It is a powerful book that will change
the conversation on the economic and health impacts of how we move from
house to work, school, entertainment, worship, groceries, health care, and
physical activity.
As someone listed as one of the world’s top 100 urban thinkers, I say
Frederick and his cutting-edge research may be the most significant work
with which I have ever been associated.
Chad Frederick knows cities. He has lived in New York, Los Angeles,
Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Louisville. He knows social conflict. He
doesn’t like to discuss it, but when he served in the California National
Guard he saw urban conflict firsthand, and it changed his thinking about
cities. He proudly notes that he was raised by a single mother who worked
nights as a waitress at a freeway truck stop. He will forever be a voice for
diversity, inclusion, and equity. He has dedicated his life to it. He brings
a perspective to academia that is extremely under-represented: the urban
working class. He speaks his mind with data at his fingertips . . . and some-
times that data goes against conventional wisdom.
The research he has produced here will have meaningful impacts in many
areas, including urban planning, public policy, public health, and sustain-
ability studies. I predict that his work will impact our thinking at the local,
state, and federal level. Throughout the book, Chad demonstrates an ency-
clopedic knowledge of our greatest planners. His voice is strong, sensitive,
and unapologetic. It’s clear he wants to start a conversation that is long
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