A writer who gleefully defies classification, McPhee has created one of the most eclectic nonfiction oeuvres around; yet, to judge from his perennial popularity, what interests McPhee interests his readers as well. In this colorful series of personality profiles, he thumbs a ride with the cross-country truckers, international shippers, river towboaters, and coal train engineers who transport freight from place to place. In between assignments for his longtime employer, The New Yorker, McPhee devoted nearly a decade of his free time to researching and writing Uncommon Carriers. Like everything else by this wonderful author, it's an uncommonly good read.