Rob Campbell, author & journalist

In 1997, an editor at St. Martin's Press contracted me to write a book about cars. My idea was to employ the sociology, psychology and symbolism of the automobile as a divining rod to the human condition. What I devised was a web of essays both impressionistic and journalistic that examine how people--including myself--forge symbiotic relationships with cars to effect their own self-transformations.

Before the manuscript was finished, the editor abruptly left St. Martin's to pursue a career as an agent, dropping a few dozen projects along the way. Mine was one of a few to be picked up, thanks to Senior Editor Keith Kahla, who helped me reach deeper into the realms I was exploring, and championed the book to the press.

I have received a lot of positive feedback about this book, but what most tickled me was when I found out that it was being used on syllabi for two widely divergent courses at two different colleges--one in New England and one in California.

Please follow the links below to find out more about it (the title of this post is linked to Plato's Garage at Amazon.com).

Plato's Garage at Barnes and Noble, with first chapter excerpt

Plato's Garage at Stonewall Inn, the glbt division of St. Martin's Press
Once you get there, follow the links to five full-chapter excerpts.

Read the New York Times review (requires registration).

Read editor Keith Kahla's radical response to a shortsighted San Francisco Examiner review.

Plato's Garage on Palm Reader eBooks

Plato's Garage on Diesel eBooks