The subtitle of this book is "SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way." The book is fabulous and should be required reading of everyone who is thinking of buying (or has already purchased) an SUV.

Bradsher was the New York Times Detroit bureau chief from 1996 to 2001 (he's now the Hong Kong bureau chief), and the book contains all the little asides and "inside" knowledge that one would expect from someone with such deep experience. The book examines the history, economics, marketing, safety and environmental impact of SUVs in detail. The most important part of the book deals with the safety of SUVs -- both for their occupants and the occupants of vehicles they crash into. The "kill rate" (occupant + non-occupant deaths) for SUVs is far higher than other vehicle on the road, leading Bradsher to variously label them "death traps" and "anti-social." While the safety problems SUVs present to other drivers is well-known, the safety problems SUVs present to occupants are less well-known and should be of vital concern to potential SUV owners.

The most interesting part of the book deals with the legislation and regulation that shaped the SUV. SUVs as we know them today are the unintended consequence of environmental and safety legislation (and regulations) passed in the 1970s. Bradsher paints a fascinating picture of the interactions among road safety experts, vehicle safety experts, bureaucrats and the automotive industry. It's a fascinating case study for anyone who is interested in how regulations are implemented.

There are some problems with the book, most notably Bradsher's worry that used SUVs will increasingly be owned by "immigrants, poor people and drunks." He repeats this point throughout the book, and although he does present some empirical support both for why this will happen and why it is problematic, by the end, it smacks of both classism and racism. And the substance abuse researcher in me bristled at his suggestion that drunk drivers are more likely to be poor (and consequently to drive used cars). That simply isn't the case.

Greg Easterbrook wrote an extensive review of this book for The New Republic. Easterbrook hits every one of Bradsher's themes in this review -- I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this topic, but might not want to read a 441-page book about it. However, I can't say enough about this book -- it's well-done, engaging and persuasive.