492 pp., pages, illustrations,
photographs, index
Cloth 978-1-884836-94-7; $49.95
Paper 978-1-884836-95-4; $39.95
Technology and The Environment

-View an excerpt from Transport of Delight-

This unusual book develops a novel theory of myth to explain the construction of rail passenger transit in Los Angeles when it had little to offer the needs of a dispersed autopolis, whose urgent but dispersed public transportation needs could have been better served by developing the regional bus system. The author conducted interviews and performed the detective work necessary to reveal an unlikely logic that held together a network of symbols, images, and metaphors that together present powerful mythical beliefs in the guise of truth.

A political analysis shows how consensus was reached to proceed with the light rail to Long Beach, but political explanations are ultimately found lacking, because they cannot explain why decision-makers would want to put the rail in place. It is only when provocative metaphors—of the need to connect communities and to restore a mythical balance to a dysfunctional transportation system—and symbols—of escape from the pressure cooker of poverty, of urban success, power and, indeed sexual acumen—are surfaced, that we realize that Los Angeles' Transport of Delight is the result of the very human need to transcend complexity by providing mythical creations that appear to offer easy answers to society's deepest problems.

A London School of Economics undergraduate, Jonathan Richmond continued as a Fulbright Scholar to MIT's Center for Transportation Studies, earning masters and doctoral degrees. He is currently researching developing country transportation problems and preparing and teaching new coursework for developing country transportation professionals at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. His first book, The Private Provision of Public Transport, was written while a fellow at Harvard University's Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government.