Books › Uncommon Carriers
Uncommon Carriers
377 pages
An immersive, journalistic journey alongside the people who steer the massive, hidden machinery of global freight.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like taking a seat in the cab of an eighteen-wheeler or standing on the deck of a massive towboat, watching the hidden infrastructure of the world roll by. It is a steady, observant journey that trades fast-paced thrills for the deep, quiet satisfaction of understanding how things work. The prose is grounded and meticulous, acting as a detailed sketchbook of the specialized labor and immense scale involved in freight transportation. The mood is expansive yet deeply human, anchoring the colossal mechanics of chemical tankers and ocean ships to the real people who steer them. It will delight readers who crave immersive, curious journalism and find a quiet romance in the logistics of the modern world.
- Mood
- immersive
- expansive
- industrial
- contemplative
- Tone
- observant
- journalistic
- curious
- grounded
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the scale of human enterprise · hidden mechanics of the modern world · the dignity of specialized labor · the romance of logistics
- The writing
- Detailed, observant, and grounded in the tangible realities of scale, machinery, and geography.
- The arc
- Moves from a curious observation of massive logistical systems to a deep appreciation for the individuals who navigate them.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love deep-dive journalism and are fascinated by the hidden infrastructure and unsung workers that keep the modern world moving.
Content notes
- hazardous materials
About the book
McPhee's books are about real people in real places. Over the past eight years, McPhee has spent considerable time in the company of people who work in freight transportation. This is his sketchbook of them and of his journeys with them. He rides from Atlanta to Tacoma alongside Don Ainsworth, owner and operator of a sixty-five-foot, eighteen-wheel chemical tanker carrying hazmats. He attends ship-handling school on a pond in the foothills of the French Alps, where, for a tuition of $15,000 a week, skippers of the largest ocean ships refine their capabilities in twenty-foot scale models. He goes up the Illinois River on a "towboat" pushing a triple string of barges, the overall vessel being "a good deal longer than the Titanic." And he travels by canoe up the canal-and-lock commercial waterways traveled by Henry David Thoreau and his brother, John, in a homemade skiff in 1839.--From publisher description.
Description from Open Library.
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