THE LAST THREE MILES

Steven Hart’s first book, The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder, and the Construction of America’s First Superhighway, has been published by The New Press.

A Lapham’s Quarterly Recommended Book

Featured in news coverage by The New York Times and the Star-Ledger

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Praise for The Last Three Miles

“Tells a story as harrowingly as Hitchcock, as dramatically as Welles.” — The Record “A fascinating read.” — Mario Murillo, host of WBAI’s Wake Up Call

“[A] first-rate piece of narrative history . . . Hart’s story is splendidly written, with nary a wasted word. His account of a massive construction project and its travails, framed by the tale of one of its major players, Frank Hague, revives the story of New Jersey’s original “boss” for a new generation. Hart also provides the reader with a gripping account of one of the state’s violent Depression era labor struggles and a noteworthy analysis of early highway engineering and construction, a science with one foot firmly planted in the nineteenth century and another tentatively feeling its way into the twentieth.” — Joseph G. Bilby, H-Net

“Great real characters — Hudson County deity Frank Hague and even Longy Zwillman of Newark (last seen in Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America), Teddy Brandle and even A. Harry Moore — fill its pages.” — Maureen Berzok, The Star-Ledger

“For anyone who’s ever wondered about the magical highway that floats above the swamps of Jersey, The Last Three Miles offers a page-turning, backroom account of what is now the backdoor to Hoboken and Manhattan beyond. Steven Hart’s meticulously researched book pushes a reader along as swiftly as a sedan crossing the Pulaski at midnight, and exposes all those dark shadows that our headlights hint at but never reveal.” — Christian Bauman, author of The Ice Beneath You and Voodoo Lounge

“Steven Hart’s The Last Three Miles provides a revealing look into how local politics can affect the design and construction of our national infrastructure, sometimes with disastrous results. Hart uses his considerable narrative talent to tell an engaging human story about what might seem otherwise to be but an enormous black steel structure looming over the New Jersey Meadowlands.” — Henry Petroski, author of Engineers of Dreams and Success Through Failure

“The Last Three Miles is an adroit blend of the historical lore surrounding one of the first great road building projects in modern America, intertwined with the legendary exploits of the corrupt machine politician through whose turf the Pulaski Skyway marched. Hart’s narrative is as authoritative as it is enjoyable and illuminating.” — Les Standiford, author of Meet You in Hell and Last Train to Paradise

“A richly detailed picture of the Pulaski Skyway, one of the enduring features of the New Jersey landscape. This elevated viaduct crossing both the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers can be considered America’s first cosmic highway. Steven Hart’s enthusiastic account is full of insiders’ details. Anecdotal and witty, the book is wonderfully informative for all those who hope to understand this important physical structure.” — Angus Kress Gillespie, author of Twin Towers and co-author of Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike