Eleveld, Mark, ed.The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam,
Hip Hop, and the Poetr y of a New Generation.
Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, 2003. The collec-
tion was advised by Marc Smith, includes an audio
CD that includes Viggo Mortensen, and has an in-
troduction by Billy Collins, U.S. poet laureate
from 2001 to 2003.
Glazner, Gary Mex, ed.Poetr y Slam: The Competitive
Art of Performance Poetr y. San Francisco: Manic D
Press, 2000. This anthology covers the first ten
years of the national slam and its participants.
Kaufman, Alan, ed.The Outlaw Bible of American Po-
etr y. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1999. Fea-
turing artists ranging from the Beats to Lou Reed
to Richard Pryor to Luis J. Rodriguez, this com-
prehensive anthology covers the roots of spoken
word.
Grisel Y. Acosta
See also Alvarez, Julia; Angelou, Maya; Coffee-
houses; Hip-hop and rap music; Homosexuality and
gay rights;In Living Color; Komunyakaa, Yusef; Lati-
nos; Poetry; Race relations;Real World, The; Shakur,
Tupac; Slang and slogans.
Sport utility vehicles (SUVs)
Definition Four-wheel-drive light trucks with a
high wheelbase, intended primarily for off-road
use but increasingly used for general
transportation
While carpool mothers of the 1960’s and 1970’s generally
carried their broods in station wagons, the soccer moms of
the 1990’s did so in SUVs.
The sport utility vehicle, or SUV, had its start as a
military vehicle, intended to enable soldiers and of-
ficers to go where there were no roads. The most fa-
mous of these vehicles was the Jeep, made by Willys-
Overland for the U.S. government. The sale of large
numbers of surplus Jeeps in the aftermath of World
War II brought these rugged, versatile vehicles into
civilian society.
The energy crisis of the 1970’s resulted in the sig-
nificant downsizing of the American automobile. Al-
though this change substantially increased fuel effi-
ciency, it also resulted in significant reduction in
cargo capacity and general passenger roominess. As
long as gasoline was in short supply, people accepted
less space as necessary. When gasoline supplies in-
creased in the 1980’s, however, the corporate aver-
age fuel economy (CAFE) standards continued to fa-
vor smaller automobiles. As a result, Americans
longing for larger vehicles began turning to these
light trucks, which had less stringent standards.
In 1991, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger became
the first person to purchase a Hummer, the civilian
version of the high mobility multipurpose wheeled
vehicle (HMMWV, generally pronounced “hum-
vee”) that had become familiar during the recently
concluded Persian Gulf War. This highly publicized
event in Mishawaka, Indiana, served to ignite inter-
est in SUVs. Although the huge Hummer was out of
reach of most Americans’ pocketbooks, many found
that smaller SUVs such as the Chevy Blazer more
than adequately satisfied their need for elbow room
and cargo capacity. SUVs became a popular choice
for families.
By the middle of the 1990’s, however, critics be-
gan to publicize problems associated with the SUV.
The lower fuel efficiency was the most obvious one,
although in a period of cheap gasoline prices it was
of little concern. The high profile and narrow wheel-
base of the SUV made it more prone to rollovers
than a passenger car. Worse, most SUV owners drove
them as if they were passenger cars, and most states
did not require a truck license to drive them.Impact The surge in popularity of SUVs during the
decade changed the makeup of traffic on the na-
tion’s streets and highways to increasingly larger and
heavier vehicles. This shift had immediate conse-
quences in fuel consumption and accident rates and
longer-term consequences in the rate at which roads
needed to be repaired, all of which led to growing
opposition to their use.Further Reading
Bradshaw, Keith.High and Mighty: SUVs—The World’s
Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way.
New York: PublicAffairs, 2002.
Jacobs, David H.Sport Utility Vehicles: The Off-Road
Revolution. New York: Todtri, 1998.
Penenberg, Adam L.Tragic Indifference: One Man’s
Battle with the Auto Industr y over the Dangers of SUVs.
New York: HarperBusiness, 2003.
Leigh Husband KimmelSee also Automobile industry; Soccer moms.800 Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) The Nineties in America