2012 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Finalist
Taras Grescoe
Straphanger
HarperCollins Publishers
Jury Citation
"Will cities continue to be dominated by the automobile? In this superb book, well-documented and engaging, Taras Grescoe offers persuasive alternatives, based on his travels by public transit of all kinds in more than a dozen cities throughout the world. Straphanger provides inspiring examples of what can be done and what’s to be avoided. It should be read by all who want the good life in good cities."
About the Book
The perception of public transportation in North America is often unflattering. A century of auto-centric culture and city planning has left most of the continent with systems that are underfunded, ill maintained, and ill conceived. But as the demand for oil outpaces the world’s supply, a revolution in transportation is under way. Taras Grescoe explores the ascendance of straphangers – the growing number of people who rely on public transportation. On a whistle-stop tour of world cities – New York, Moscow, Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Bogotá, Phoenix, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal – he highlights the good, the bad, and the people fighting to create convenient, affordable, and sustainable urban transportation for all.
About the Author
Taras Grescoe was born in Toronto and currently lives in Montreal. Straphanger was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the QWF Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction. His previous book, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood, won the Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize in 2008. Grescoe’s work has appeared in a variety of major publications, including the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler.