Books: Hell on Wheels

LONG HAUL—A. I. Bezzerides—Carrick & Evans ($2).

At night along U. S. highways travelers sometimes see a dozen huge trucks parked around a filling station or a roadside restaurant, the drivers sleeping in their cabs, drinking coffee or talking shop. If they listen to these men, they can hear stories of the true nomads of the American working class—of drivers who virtually live in their trucks, drive 30 hours without sleep, travel the roads for weeks without getting to bed. Last week a 29-year-old California truck driver summoned up some of this strange nocturnal...