Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers

(Paperback)

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Description

A Studs Terkel-esque, oral history-driven travelogue and peoples history. Di Cintio speaks to a surprising range of subjects, from members of the Iraqi National Guard who survived the American bombardment and fled to Canada, to Nathan Phelps, the son of Fred Phelps of the Westboro Church, who escaped his fathers pull and fled to Canada, where he drives a cab on the West Coast, to Rawi Hage, whose cab-driving experiences found their way into his Dublin Impac Award-winning Cockroach, to the group of Indigenous woman who form a cab service for other Indigenous women to keep them from harm.

Will appeal to readers interested in contemporary issues surrounding immigration and refugees, borderlands studies, social and economic class, labour, racial discrimination, and transportation, especially in urban centers, as well as Barbara Ehrenreich fans.

As in Di Cintios recent books, Pay No Heed to the Rockets, about life in contemporary Palestine (praised by Kirkus and Canadian outlets for its intelligence and sensitivity) and Walls: Travels Along the Barricades, Marcello largely travels through other people, telling their stories, and through them, capturing a sense of the place. Driven offers a portrait of Canada that you will not see anywhere else, but one which will resonate with US readers.

Di Cintio has written for the International New York Times, The Walrus, and others

This is the fourth title in our Untold Lives series, which aims to bring to print lesser-known or neglected historical and biographical narratives. Two series titles have been national bestsellers in Canada and widely covered by national broadcast media.

Reviews

Praise for Driven

No big event kicks Driven into gear. Nobody is a celebrity. There is no specific wrong to be righted, no particular injustice to be exposed. Indeed, Di Cintio consciously abjures the best-known tropes of cab driving ... Instead, he sticks to wanting to know about cab drivers, and this impulseplain, old-fashioned inquisitivenessis a journalistic force not to be underestimated It takes up a subject so ordinary that you hardly notice it, but it becomes more interesting the closer you look. In fact, the closer you look, the more your view is not of a single subject at all but of an entire world.
Literary Review of Canada

"A blend of reportage, social history, and personal profile, Driven is a triumph of curiosity and compassion."
The Walrus

"In Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers, Marcello Di Cintio takes the time and trouble to engage with a cross-Canada range of people representing a profession too often taken for granted. Most of them are immigrants; all of them are subject to scarcely conceivable challenges and obstacles, often exacerbated by the onset of Uber."
Montreal Gazette

Driven is a collection of short essays laying out the backstory for an eclectic array of immigrant cabbies ... All of the characters are driven by an incredible work ethic, where 17-hour days are not uncommon ... If you have spent any time at all in cabs, chances are you will have met some of the character types in this easy-reading collection.
Winnipeg Free Press

"A varied, eclectic collection of stories from the frontlines of North Americas taxi industry, showcasing the indomitable hope of the people who literally keep our cities moving forward."
Maclean's

A masterpiece of original sociological research, Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers is an extraordinary and deftly presented series of perspectives. Unique, engaging, entertaining, inherently fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Midwest Book Review

Alongside Di Cintio we discover the magic behind these people and their stories, painting a picture of the often turbulent lives of these blue collar workers that are so often forgotten by society ... Di Cintios journalism skills are clearly evident in the rich descriptions and conversations he relays in these pages, but what makes his writing even better are the small asides he offers us when making personal observations about people, or poking fun at himself ... I was happily engaged from beginning to end.
Ive Read This

"Driven is an engaging, impeccably investigated, character-driven work of narrative nonfiction, told with Di Cintios wonderful dark humour, keen empathy, and rich journalistic eye. The book is a searing testament to the power of untold stories, of people who exist in the margins, of hidden histories, as well as an examination of Canadas immigration laws. Driven urges us to rethink the enduring toll on those individuals who labour for us and take us where we need to go. A truly fine blend of heart-break, guffaws, and research."
Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo and My Summer of Love and Misfortune

"In these deeply researched and richlyoften shockinglydetailed portraits of Canadian taxi drivers from all over the world, Di Cintio reveals, among other things, the heavy price exacted by getting here, and staying here. The funny, savage, and poignant stories in these pages give a fresh urgency to an old saying that all of us should remember the next time we get into a taxi: 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.'"
John Vaillant, author of The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

"An astonishing book about folks from all over, many of whom have been through total hell but have somehow made their way out ... You never know who's driving you. Each person contains multitudes."
Margaret Atwood on Twitter

Fascinating Nuanced In Driven, Di Cintio stayed in his own country and paid close attention to the men and women most of us take for granted. Most were immigrants. Many came from war-torn nations. Many were what Di Cintio calls chess masters of their own lives, possessing a genius and ingenuity that few of us recognize.
Calgary Herald

Praise for Marcello Di Cintio

"Di Cintio researches his subjects thoroughly, conducts in depth reporting, and writes with vigour and humility."
Kamal Al-Solaylee, Quill & Quire

"Di Cintio weaves together history with a sense of place and infuses character with dialogue and humor ... masterful."
Selma Dabbagh, The Electronic Intifada

"Illuminating reading from a highly engaged author."
Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Marcello Di Cintio is the author of four books, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades and Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense, both winners of the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. His magazine writing has appeared in appeared in publications such as The International New York Times, The Walrus, Canadian Geographic, and Afar. Di Cintio has served as a writer-in-residence at the Calgary Public Library, the University of Calgary, and the Palestine Writing Workshop, and he teaches nonfiction writing at the annual WordsWorth youth writing residency.