Shawn William Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Brigham Young University. He is an environmental historian and the author of An Environmental History of Latin America (Cambridge, 2007).

• Introduction: a common space to enjoy – Paquetá Island; 1. Systems circulatory before the wheel – Ouvidor Street; 2. The street's apotheosis – Central Avenue; 3. Putting the car in carnival – Rio Branco Avenue; 4. A blunt instrument – Misericórdia Square; 5. Automotive law and the promises of safety – Assembly Street; 6. Buyers and regrets – Praça Onze (Square Eleven); 7. Automotive flow vs. automotive storage – Castelo Hill; Conclusion: revolutions at the end of the street – Brasilia.

'With touches of the finest conventions of writing about Brazilian cities and their denizens, this is a study of the streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro as experienced by people, animals, and machines. Alongside his history of street paving and street beautification, Miller describes the 'invention' of pedestrian and motorist. Attentive to the entwined histories of danger and thrill in the Marvelous City, The Street is Ours is a fascinating examination of the most commonplace of all urban settings - the street - as a contested, lively public good often turned over to, but never fully dominated by, the private needs of the automobile.' Daryle Williams, co-editor of The Rio de Janeiro Reader: History, Culture, Politics