American Big Trucks

9 x 12 160 pgs 225 color & b&w photos & artwork index

On January 12, 2010, the deadliest earthquake in the history of the Western Hemisphere struck the nation least prepared to handle it. Jonathan M. Katz, the only full-time American news correspondent in Haiti, was inside his house when it buckled along with hundreds of thousands of others. In this visceral, authoritative first-hand account, Katz chronicles the terror of that day, the devastation visited on ordinary Haitians, and how the world reacted to a nation in need. More than half of American adults gave money for Haiti, part of a monumental response totaling $16.3 billion in pledges. But three years later the relief effort has foundered. It's most basic promises—to build safer housing for the homeless, alleviate severe poverty, and strengthen Haiti to face future disasters—remain unfulfilled. The Big Truck That Went By presents a sharp critique of international aid that defies today's conventional wisdom; that the way wealthy countries give aid makes poor countries seem irredeemably hopeless, while trapping millions in cycles of privation and catastrophe. Katz follows the money to uncover startling truths about how good intentions go wrong, and what can be done to make aid "smarter." With coverage of Bill Clinton, who came to help lead the reconstruction; movie-star aid worker Sean Penn; Wyclef Jean; Haiti's leaders and people alike, Katz weaves a complex, darkly funny, and unexpected portrait of one of the world's most fascinating countries. The Big Truck That Went By is not only a definitive account of Haiti's earthquake, but of the world we live in today.

The big truck is a dominant feature in our modern society. Alexander Winston sold his first horseless semi-truck 1899 and in 1913 Maine was the first state to limit the wight of trucks on its roads, to 18,000 pounds and that becane a norm. There are abt 4.06 million semi-trucks operating in the USA. The payload is abt 42,000 and 48,000 on the usual semi-trailer, meaning the trailer fleet can move abt 170,520 million pounds around. Add to this all the special big trucks. 8.4 million people are employed in the trucking industry, 3.54 million are truck drivers, excluding the self-employed (2022). Follow the big trucks and their loads in pictures and short comments. We honor this great industry on 4th of July and Labor Day and hope you will enjoy our selection of photos.

From the first turn-of-the-century haulers to the 18-wheelers truckin' down the nation's highways today, ten full decades of big rigs fill the pages of this hardbound chronological retrospective. Lengthy captions accompany each of more than 500 black-and-white photographs and a special section of 75 color photos featuring major manufacturers like Mack, Peterbilt, Ford, Freightliner, International, and GMC, along with trailer manufacturers and minor truckbuilders that have gone by the wayside. The main focus is on semis built from the 1940s through the 1970s.

The big truck is a dominant feature in our modern society. Alexander Winston sold his first horseless semi-truck 1899 and in 1913 Maine was the first state to limit the wight of trucks on its roads, to 18,000 pounds and that becane a norm. There are abt 4.06 million semi-trucks operating in the USA. The payload is abt 42,000 and 48,000 on the usual semi-trailer, meaning the trailer fleet can move abt 170,520 million pounds around. Add to this all the special big trucks. 8.4 million people are employed in the trucking industry, 3.54 million are truck drivers, excluding the self-employed (2022). Follow the big trucks and their loads in pictures and short comments. We honor this great industry on 4th of July and Labor Day and hope you will enjoy our selection of photos.

A fabulous photographic tribute to these venerable workhorses of the road.

Prepare for a photo-packed look at trucks in action! Ron Adams has combed his huge archive of vintage truck photos to assemble this collection of over 300 black-and-white and color photos of postwar trucks. Prior to deregulation in the 1980s, distinctly branded trucks from hundreds of independent trucking firms worked America’s roads. Organized by decade, American Semi Trucks 1943-1979 features trucks from all makers including Freightliner, Kenworth, Mack, White-Freighliner, and more. Complete with detailed captions, this is a complete look at this period of trucking history.

Prior to the 1970s, when length laws were written to allow longer configurations to run on the national interstate highway system, you would only see a lot of these trucks west of the Mississippi. Configurations such as the Rocky Mountain Double were not allowed in many states. Semi Trucks of the West is the first book to showcase the unique truck/trailer combos and companies that worked the roads in the American West from the early 1900s thru the 1970s. Ron Adams has pulled 375 images from his vast collection to feature companies and truck makers, such as Navajo Freight Lines Inc.; Denver-Chicago Trucking Co. Inc.; Braswell Motor Freight Lines Inc.; Western Truck Lines Inc.; I.M.L. Freight Inc.,; West Coast Fast Freight Inc.; Los Angeles-Seattle Motor Express Inc.; Garrett Freight Lines, Illinois-California Express Inc.; Ringsby Truck Lines Inc.; Watson Bros. Transportation Co. Inc.; Pacific Inter-Mountain Express; Transcon Lines Inc.; Big Sky Co-op of Montana; Garrison Fast Freight Inc.; Arrowhead Freight Lines Inc.; United Truck Lines Inc.; Strickland Transportation Co.; Peterbilt semi trucks; Sterling: International; Kenworth; White:Autocar trucks; GMC semi trucks; Fruehauf trailers; Mack semi trucks; Freightliner semi trucks. Trucks and companies from the following states are covered : California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Montana.

In the early days, many trucking companies started out with one truck or even some horses, and a few tough folks kept hauling through the Great Depression and WWII. As roads improved, many of these companies became large operations with ample semi-trucks, trailers and places to haul. This book is a concise history of the pioneers in trucking and how they grew their truck empires. From the east coast to the west coast, most of the companies started out very small regionally and with acquisitions and mergers became the big names in trucking hauling all over America. Each company includes a history, maps of their truck lines and a photo or more of their fleet or rigs they used at an epochal point in their history. Ron Adams has been collecting truck literature and photographing trucks for over 40 years and has a vast knowledge of the trucking industry and has made a name for himself in truck books.