People asked me, "What's interstate trucking like? What's it really like out there on the road?" My short answer was always the same. "You have to like being alone." In The Driver's Seat -- memoir, travelogue, portrait of an industry -- is the long answer. One month after his 45th birthday, Marc Mayfield became a long-haul truck driver, something he'd always wanted to do. Away from home for weeks at a time, he crisscrossed America in 18-wheelers. Drove into sunsets and, often, through the night. Learned firsthand that truckers compensated by the mile are shortchanged with each paycheck, that...