Trucker

“There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.

ANGEL I know what you're whispering in the car as you pass me by. Hitchhiker. When you see me walking along the side of the road with my thumb out, you'll probably keep driving without giving me a second glance. You probably think I'm foolish. Naïve. You might assume I've made some bad decisions. You might think I'm too young to be on my own. You might be right. TRAVIS I love my job, but driving an eighteen-wheeler comes with a certain stereotype. When you hear I'm a trucker, a specific image might come to mind. Uneducated. Dirty. Perverted. Rough around the edges and a little bit dangerous. But the truth is, I'm not any of those things. In fact, I'm pretty far from it. You'd be surprised to find out I'm one of the good guys.Trucker is a standalone novel. Due to language and sexual content, this book is intended for readers 18 and older.

Soothe truck-loving toddlers off to sleep with this vehicle-themed bedtime picture book Hush, little trucker, you’re in luck. Mama’s gonna find your lost toy truck. A new spin on the classic song “Hush, Little Baby,” this truck-themed lullaby follows a mother and child as they discover different vehicles, from a bulldozer to a front-end loader. Kim Norman’s gentle rhyming text, paired with Toshiki Nakamura’s imaginative illustrations, makes this picture book a great option for bedtime read-alouds.

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Fran thought that galaxy trucking would be her dream job. No one told her about the meteors on Route 135. Her trucks keep getting smashed to bits and now she's deep in debt. Does she need a new route or a new career?Maybe she just needs a friend.Galaxy Trucker: Rocky Road is the sort of science fiction novel where a space truck can go faster than light, but a truck driver can still see traffic in her rearview mirror. This book has laser cannons! Space pirates! And oh so many meteors.So buckle up for a ride with Francesca Flores and her alien possibly-soon-to-be-sidekick as they confront astronomical dangers in an attempt to deliver one load of sewer pipes.

The true story of two women who found meaning, strength, and friendship in one of the most punishing and magnificent landscapes on earth. Amy Butcher was an accomplished college professor, mentor, and writer, but in her own home, she was embarrassed and emotionally burdened by an increasingly abusive relationship. Exhausted and terrified of the ways her partner's behavior could escalate, Amy reached out to Instagram celebrity Joy "Mothertrucker" Wiebe. Joy was a fifty-year-old wife and mother and the nation's only female ice road trucker, a woman who maneuvered big rigs through the Alaskan wilderness along the deadliest road in America. Joy was everything Amy wanted to be: independent, fearless, and in charge of her life in a landscape dominated by men. Invited by Joy to ride shotgun, Amy found her escape on a road that was treacherous, beautiful, and exhilarating--an adventurous ride through the Alaskan wilderness that was profoundly life changing. Mothertrucker is the story of that bracing four-hundred-mile journey navigating snow-glazed overpasses, ice-blue curves, and near plummets. It's also the stories that led them both to Alaska--an interrogation of the reality of female fear, domestic violence, and how to overcome--and an exploration into just how galvanizing friendships between women can be.

Tom drives a big rig. He gets an order and picks it up. As he drives across the country, past construction sites and on roads being repaired, he joins other vehicles, big and small. Wherever he goes?through towns and cities, on busy highways, over bridges and mountains?he sees all kinds of trucks that are also carrying important goods to people. In scenes both panoramic and detailed, Monica Wellington has painted over sixty different vehicles in her signature bright colors. In this addition to her nonfiction series for the very youngest about people and jobs, she invites readers?especially boys?for a ride on the open road.

Wit, wisdom, adventure, and revelations from sixty years on the road. They say that only truck drivers experience the true grandeur and landscape of America: the winding mountainsides at sunrise, the first frosts of winter descending on apple orchards, the call of the rising roosters. In A Trucker's Tale, Ed Miller gives an inside look at the allure of the work and the colorful characters who haul our goods on the open road. He shares what it was like to grow up in a boisterous trucking family, his experience as an equipment officer in Vietnam, the wide range of vehicles he's mounted, and the daily trials, tribulations, risks, and exploits that define life as a trucker. Ed's vibrant, no-holds-barred tales are hilarious and heartwarming, sometimes cringeworthy or unbelievable—recollections of heroic feels as well as the “fishing stories” that have stretched and shifted from CB radio to CB radio. Many are the results of what he calls, “just plain stupidity.” Others bring to light the small acts of kindness and grand gestures that these Knights of the Highway perform each day, as well as the safety risks and continual danger that these essential workers endure. Together they paint a compelling portrait of one of the most important, but least-known industries, and reveal why Ed, and so many like him, just kept on truckin’.

Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood. Through the voices of drivers from marginalized communities who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer reveals the stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.

www.truckingtruth.com Trucking schools can teach you to drive, but nobody's there to teach you everything else.This book is a no-holds-barred, call 'em as I see 'em account of what I went through when I decided to become a truck driver. I hope to shed some light on what the trucking industry is REALLY like, with no hidden agendas and no regrets.I have absolutely loved my years on the road. The experiences, the friends, the money, the challenges, and the freedom. "There are so many things to know if you want to be successful on the road and they take years to learn.I'm talking about things they don't teach in truck driving schools and things companies don't talk about..at least not honestly. There are "grey areas" and "unwritten rules" in the trucking industry that have a major impact on your life and your career - and only time on the road will reveal the reailtiesof becoming a truck driver......"- Brett Aquila, Author - "Becoming A Truck Driver:The Raw Truth About Trucking"