Plato's Garage

The Story

In a collection of essays that are often personal, occasionally journalistic, and, now and again, meditative, Rob Campbell takes a look at the world from a different perspective -- through the reflective lens of the automobile in our car-obsessed culture. From the Los Angeles he knows, where people are frequently defined by the cars they drive, to Bakersfield in which he grew up, where the group you went cruising with defined your station in life; from the people who define fantasy cars to the people who sell cars not unlike them to the high-end consumer market.With sharp wit and candid observations, Campbell has a gift for the telling detail, the particular moment which illustrates a universal truth. Just as Plato used the simile of the Cave in his Republic, Campbell takes it that one extra step -- and posits Plato's Garage, where society parks its metaphoric cars -- and then he takes them for a spin on the Universal Highway. And he guarantees a ride that is smooth, elegant, and the envy of your friends and neighbors.